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Ancient Incas in the Andes chewed coca leaves. They did this not for the high, but to help fasten breathing living in thin mountain air. The exact time period is unknown but it is to believed that coca and the use of the leaf, took place somewhere around three thousand years before Christ.
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The people of Peru only ever chewed Coca leaves for religious ceremonies but Spanish solders broke this event in 1532. The Spanish took the Indians into slavery, making them work in silver mines. The slavers would use coca leaves as a exploit to make the Peruvian Indians work.
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1859 was the first time Cocaine was isolated from the coca leaf by German Chemist, Albert Niemann.
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It wasn't until the early 1880's that cocaine and it's coca leaf along with other types of drugs such as meth; were starting to be recognized by the medical community.
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A Austrian psychoanalyst named Sigmund Freud tried the drug himself and in 1884 published a book called “Über Coca” (About Coke). His booked listed all the "benefits" coke had, like curing depression and Erectile dysfunction. Freud called the drug "magical"
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A man by the name of John Pemberton sky-rocked the popularity of the drug when he used Coca leaves as an ingredient in the now popular soft drink Coca-Cola
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By the 1900's the dangers of the drug was starting to be realized because of wide spread use. Even though it was put in everything such as toothpaste, to being used in tonic elixirs such as Coca-Cola. The widespread and heavy promotion of being an energizing and healthy drink that can cure all illnesses was not enough to trick people into believing it. The evidence was clear that there was danger involved and the public pressured the Coca-Cola company to remove Coca as an ingredient by 1903
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By 1905 the use of the drug through snorting it was becoming a popular practice. In about 5 years Hospitals and other types of medical institutions had started reporting cases of nasal damage resulting from the use of this drug. Even though these studies were being funded, Cocaine was still heavily promoted by silent films and famous magazines.
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It wasn't until the 1910's specifically 1912 that the U.S government realized the dangers of the drug reporting over 5000's death related to cocaine alone in one year.
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In 1922 the drug was officially banned and made illegal to use.
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Cocaine became a very fashionable drug to use during the 70's. Many entertainers such as Ozzy Osborne and his band Black Sabbath and solo singers like David Bowie would use it to "live life fast" and to stay "up". The drug was prefect for a long and expensive business trips and showed that you had some sort of power
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By the late 1970's i.e 1975 to 1979, drug trafficking became very popular and a nice way to make money. Colombians used elaborate network for smuggling cocaine into the U.S.
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By the 1980's the widespread drug trafficking made it dangerously easy to get drugs and by the late 1980's it was considered America most dangerous drug.
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During the 1990's and early 2000's Colombian Drug Cartels exported about 500 - 800 tons of Cocaine to Asia and Europe and in 2008 became the second most trafficked drug in the world.
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Now by 2018 over hundreds of year's of research we now now long term and short term effects of cocaine. Cocaine offers and intense and fast high, making the person feel invincible followed by then opposite.
.Depression
.Edginess
.And a craving for more of the drug. People who use it often don’t eat or sleep properly. They can experience greatly increased heart rate, muscle spasms and convulsions. The drug can make people feel paranoid. No matter the use, heart attack risks increase as well
