Cocaine
The other major stimulant that is abused heavily in the United States is cocaine. Cocaine is a naturally occurring substance that is found only in the Erythoxylon coca plant that grows almost exclusively on the Amazon slopes of the Andes Mountains in South America. Evidence from as far back as 500 AD indicates that indigenous people were using coca leaves. Five hundred years later, coca plants were being extensively cultivated in Peru. Today it is believed that more than 50 million kilograms (about 110 million pounds) are produced annually in South America, chiefly in Bolivia, Peru, and Columbia, and only a small fraction of that is used domestically or legally exported. Cocaine is extracted from the coca leaves domestically and then exported to the United States and other countries. It takes about 500 kg of coca leaves to produce 1 kg of cocaine powder. In those countries where it is grown, cocaine has been used for hundreds of years by chewing the leaves of the coca plant, rather than by extracting the cocaine chemically. Figure 1(a) is a photograph of cocaine hydrochloride refined powder. Figure 1(b) is a photograph of coca leaves.
FIGURE 1 (a) Cocaine hydrochloride. This is sometimes called “snow” or “flake” or “blow.” It is made by extracting cocaine from the coca plant and then treating the extract with hydrochloric acid. It is called “blow” because a popular route of ingestion is by inhaling it into the nose with a straw or small spoon. (b) The coca plant.
One of the early proponents of cocaine for its medicinal effects was Sigmund Freud, who experimented with it extensively and praised its stimulant effects and the feelings of well-being that it caused. He especially recommended it as a method for curing morphine addiction. In his famous Sherlock Holmes detective fiction books, Arthur Conan Doyle wrote about cocaine as a habit-forming drug, describing Holmes’ experimentation with it. A motion picture in the 1980s, “The Seven Percent Solution” is a fictional account of how Sigmund Freud cured Sherlock Holmes’ addiction to cocaine. In 1886, John Pemberton developed a new soft drink that con tained coca leaves and cocaine. The stimulant and euphoric effects of the cocaine made this drink an overnight success. In 1903, Pemberton removed the cocaine from his elixir because of government pressure on the heels of medical evidence of the dangers of taking cocaine. He replaced it with caffeine. For a time, he continued to add decocainized coca leaves for flavoring. Beverages derived from his formulations are still popular today. By the turn of the twentieth century, cocaine was extremely popular in the United States as a pleasure drug. A large number of products containing cocaine were available. These could be imbibed by drinking, sniffing through the nose, or injecting. In 1906, with the Pure Food and Drugs Act and the Harrison Act of 1914, cocaine use was severely curtailed and the drug became heavily controlled. As amphetamines became easy to obtain in the 1930s, cocaine use declined and then rose again when amphetamines became strictly controlled in the 1970s. For many years, it was believed that cocaine was not a physically addictive drug. This opinion has changed, however, with the advent of crack, a form of crystalline cocaine. Crack became popular because as the freebase, its melting point is lower than powdered cocaine, enabling crack to be smoked. This enables crack to be absorbed more easily by the body and its effects are greatly magnified. When smoked, crack cocaine can cause physical addiction. Sniffing powdered cocaine, on the other hand, does not lead to addiction although a strong psychological dependence can occur. Crack cocaine is shown in Figure 2.
FIGURE 2 Crack cocaine. This is a form of cocaine freebase. It is smoked rather than snorted. It is made from flake cocaine by treating it with sodium bicarbonate or other alkaline substances.
Cocaine provides an excellent case study of the huge profits that are to be made in illegal drug trafficking. A major drug trafficker can obtain 500 pounds of coca leaves from a farmer for about $500. This in turn, will produce about one pound of pure cocaine. This is sold to a refiner/exporter for about $3000. Broken down into smaller packages and diluted, the final product, up to 5 pounds of diluted cocaine can sell for as much as $100,000 on the streets of the United States. Much of this increase in price can be traced to the fact that cocaine is illegal to manufacture, possess, or distribute in the United States. Since lengthy imprisonment and heavy fines await violators, they charge a lot of money for the product because of the risk they are taking.
