What is Cocaine?
Cocaine is a central nervous system stimulant, the most powerful found in nature. Most often seen in the form of cocaine hydrochloride, a white, crystalline powder, it is extracted from the leaves of the coca plant, Erythroxylon coca, indigenous to the highlands of the Andean mountains in South America. The Incas used coca leaves as a part of their religious rites thousands of years ago. Over the centuries, laborers of the Andes, who toil under harsh conditions, have either chewed coca leaves or brewed tea from them to relieve apoxia (mountain sickness that occurs at high altitudes), hunger, and fatigue and for refreshment. Cocaine in the United States Cocaine was first isolated from the coca leaf in the late 1800s. It quickly became popular as an ingredient in patent medicines (throat lozenges, tonics, etc.) and other products (e.g., Coca Cola, from which it was later removed). Concern soon mounted due to instances of addiction, psychotic behavior, convulsion, and death. A series of s
