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Who Took the Cocaine Out of Coca-Cola?

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Re: Who Took the Cocaine Out of Coca-Cola?

#91

Post by anotheruser13 »

cykros wrote: post #90
srean wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That begs the question what do they do with the methyl benzoyl ecgonine. I suppose it ends up in lidocaine and other variants.

Cocaine is also a schedule 2 substance, meaning it is actually approved and sold for medical use. Not a lot, mind you, and mostly only in hospital settings for local anaesthesia purposes, but it was absolutely found in the catalogs we used to use for doing the ordering when I worked as a pharmacy technician.

They use it for tonsillectomies. It was the second entry on the itemized bill.

Re: Who Took the Cocaine Out of Coca-Cola?

#92

Post by [deleted] »

gamblor956 wrote: post #87
Spooky23 wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that you’re taking the most charitable view of Anslinger’s conduct possible. You’re essentially arguing that because he hired a few black DEA agents, his vilification propaganda campaigns and pandering to the Jim Crow crowd in congress to get support wasn’t “intended” to target people based on their race. You can split hairs that his actions were in conflict with his true feelings I suppose. But additions ten…

Except that he didn't brutally oppress racial groups... He brutally went after drug dealers and drug users, regardless of race. He pursued WASPs, Catholic mobsters, white hippies, and minorities with equal lack of restraint. Again, the problem was not racism. The problem was the extreme lengths he was willing to go to quash drugs . And that was driven by the drug use he witnessed as a child, in a white neighborhood.

[deleted]

Re: Who Took the Cocaine Out of Coca-Cola?

#93

Post by shermantanktop »

gorlilla wrote: post #73
wbshaw wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every time I've taken the tour at the Coca-Cola museum in Atlanta, the question has come up and they consistently deny it. I think next time I'll ask the question as whether or not Coco leaves were included in the original formula. I'll bet I get the wrong answer.

"Is it true that prior to aggressive anti-drug legislation, the cocoa leaf extract that was used in coca-cola was not specifically de-cocainized thereby causing coca-cola to possibly contain quantities of cocaine that were possibly significant to the consumer?" Idk, just lawyer proof the question as much as possible..

Sure, grill the highschooler reciting the company line—that’s the way to be the most popular person in the tour group.

Re: Who Took the Cocaine Out of Coca-Cola?

#94

Post by piombisallow »

cqqxo4zV46cp wrote: post #69
koonsolo wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You quote a very US centric reason. So why aren't any other countries legalizing it?

As a non-American, I think that you’re underestimating or understating the US’s unfortunate influence on the rest of the world. It’s almost like they’ve been fighting for it for hundreds of years.

Is the suggestion here that drugs were criminalized in Europe because of diplomatic pressure from the Nixon administration?

Re: Who Took the Cocaine Out of Coca-Cola?

#95

Post by srean »

anotheruser13 wrote: post #91
cykros wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cocaine is also a schedule 2 substance, meaning it is actually approved and sold for medical use. Not a lot, mind you, and mostly only in hospital settings for local anaesthesia purposes, but it was absolutely found in the catalogs we used to use for doing the ordering when I worked as a pharmacy technician.

They use it for tonsillectomies. It was the second entry on the itemized bill.

@anotheruser13 and @cykros. Thanks. I did not know that. This is why I love hackernews.

Re: Who Took the Cocaine Out of Coca-Cola?

#96

Post by mptest »

pas wrote: post #59
koonsolo wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You quote a very US centric reason. So why aren't any other countries legalizing it?

Germany recently moved a big step toward legalizing pot. Psylocibin and MDMA are getting established (again after many decades) in psychotherapy in the US. In general consumption of many hard drugs are tolerated legally and in practice in lot of places around the world. ... That said heroin, homelessness, mental illnesses and addiction are simply things with a "nuisance profile" and has a super high correlation to cr…

>why it got the prohibition treatment

which ALWAYS fails. it leads to fentanyl instead of regulated pure heroin which we tax. It leads to the money that could go to put these people in addict centers in to drug lords' pockets. people are going to use it anyway. prohibition does nothing but fill our jails with minorities. Tax it, limit daily use, use the billions flooding to violent cartels to fund social solutions to addiction. It's pretty simple. and undeniable the war on drugs is a failure.

Re: Who Took the Cocaine Out of Coca-Cola?

#97

Post by mptest »

piombisallow wrote: post #94
cqqxo4zV46cp wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a non-American, I think that you’re underestimating or understating the US’s unfortunate influence on the rest of the world. It’s almost like they’ve been fighting for it for hundreds of years.

Is the suggestion here that drugs were criminalized in Europe because of diplomatic pressure from the Nixon administration?

Yes.

https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/voices/how-the-united...

Re: Who Took the Cocaine Out of Coca-Cola?

#98

Post by meiraleal »

argiopetech wrote: post #83
meiraleal wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There are plenty of real problems, past and present, which we can point to as indicative of racial prejudice. The insistence on its insertion into other areas, lacking supporting evidence, is, imho, overtly harmful to discourse. Would you mind disclosing in which camp you stand? I need it to confirm if your disregard for discussing racial problems and warning about "harmful discourse" is real or just racism.

I don't believe in camps (with regards to allying myself with one — obviously they exist). I believe in seeking truth (to the extent possible) through discourse. See the rest of this thread for how I conduct that process and what I do when confronted with reasonable evidence. I have no problem discussing racial problems. I just didn't see this as one (I've changed that opinion), and didn't appreciate the framing of t…

Any time you are racist, intentionally or just because you can't grasp the full picture, you believe in camps and worse, you choose a side.

Re: Who Took the Cocaine Out of Coca-Cola?

#99

Post by watwut »

piombisallow wrote: post #94
cqqxo4zV46cp wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a non-American, I think that you’re underestimating or understating the US’s unfortunate influence on the rest of the world. It’s almost like they’ve been fighting for it for hundreds of years.

Is the suggestion here that drugs were criminalized in Europe because of diplomatic pressure from the Nixon administration?

It was literal American policy to pressure other countries to do so. I mean an open one - not a secret, but something American politicians were proud about. It was seen as a good thing by them and by the voters.

Re: Who Took the Cocaine Out of Coca-Cola?

#100

Post by iambateman »

argiopetech wrote: post #15
iambateman wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m not an expert on the origins of Coke, but I do find it very plausible that white people in 1890’s Atlanta heard that “black people are doing it” and that was enough. Plus the article mentions specific writing from the time which supports their view (quote from AJC). It’s hard to overstate the level of anger white people had toward black people in post-reconstruction Georgia and how fundamental it was to their act…

I don't have the time to do the research justice at this moment; however, let me lay out a rough argument. Let us say, for the sake of argument, that poverty and drug abuse are strongly correlated. Poverty does not cause drug abuse, but people in poverty are more likely to abuse drugs, and people who abuse drugs are more likely to be in poverty due to their drug abuse. The article seems to agree with this point, as i…

I’m not saying it’s the sole catalyst.

no one is putting cocaine in a drink today, so it’s certainly possible that people were starting to figure out that it’s a bad idea.

But what I am saying is that white fear of “anything perceived to be black” was absolutely a driver of behavior at this time/place.

I believe the popular cultural understanding of how bad race relations were at this time is understated.

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