4 ms·

Can't speak for the original Coca-Cola, but coca is not cocaine. Drank a whole bunch of coca tea in Peru to cope with the altitude sickness.

CapitalistCartr 14y ago
But cocaine is extracted from coca leaves. Even a trivial amount in soda would be a problem in the USA. Wikipedia: " . . . the alkaloid content of coca leaves is low: between .25% and .77%, and production of cocaine from coca requires complex chemical processes.[2] This means that chewing the leaves or drinking coca tea does not produce the high people experience with cocaine. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca
deelowe 14y ago
What do you mean? Coca is most certainly the plant that contains cocaine: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca The process for producing pure cocaine(the powdery stuff) is really just an elaborate extraction process. I think it's fair to say that coca-cola originally contained cocaine prior to the invention of the process to remove the alkaloid.
betterunix 14y ago
Hate to break it to you, but the tea you drank in Peru was infused with cocaine. Not terribly much cocaine -- a coca leaf doesn't have a high concentration of the drug -- but cocaine nonetheless. Cocaine has been used in South America for centuries; it was not until the 19th century that anyone realized you could concentrate and extract the drug, and use a hypodermic needle to get a rapid and extreme effect (this is how Freud used cocaine, as well as the character Sherlock Holmes).
- njs12345 14y ago
  A cup of coca tea contains about 1/5th of a line of cocaine, apparently: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca_tea http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca_tea EDIT: This drink sounds kind of interesting.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca_Colla http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca_Colla
  - notahacker 14y ago
    But since drinking tea is considerably less efficient at getting the cocaine into your system, you'd really struggle to replicate a cocaine high from drinking Mate de Coca. It's more like drinking weak tea. Good answer here: http://www.quora.com/Tea/Is-coca-tea-addictive/answer/David-Gorczyca http://www.quora.com/Tea/Is-coca-tea-addictive/answer/David-...
- nicholassmith 14y ago
  I didn't realise Freud went down the route of injecting with it, I did know he was a big fan of cocaine though. Wrote a reasonably long essay about why it was such a pillar of the modern industrial world.
  - illuminate 14y ago
    Oh yes, he got his whole family addicted to it and suggested other families do the same.

CapitalistCartr 14y ago

But cocaine is extracted from coca leaves. Even a trivial amount in soda would be a problem in the USA. Wikipedia: " . . . the alkaloid content of coca leaves is low: between .25% and .77%, and production of cocaine from coca requires complex chemical processes.[2] This means that chewing the leaves or drinking coca tea does not produce the high people experience with cocaine. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca

deelowe 14y ago

What do you mean? Coca is most certainly the plant that contains cocaine: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca The process for producing pure cocaine(the powdery stuff) is really just an elaborate extraction process. I think it's fair to say that coca-cola originally contained cocaine prior to the invention of the process to remove the alkaloid.

betterunix 14y ago

Hate to break it to you, but the tea you drank in Peru was infused with cocaine. Not terribly much cocaine -- a coca leaf doesn't have a high concentration of the drug -- but cocaine nonetheless. Cocaine has been used in South America for centuries; it was not until the 19th century that anyone realized you could concentrate and extract the drug, and use a hypodermic needle to get a rapid and extreme effect (this is how Freud used cocaine, as well as the character Sherlock Holmes).

njs12345 14y ago
A cup of coca tea contains about 1/5th of a line of cocaine, apparently: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca_tea http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca_tea EDIT: This drink sounds kind of interesting.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca_Colla http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca_Colla
- notahacker 14y ago
  But since drinking tea is considerably less efficient at getting the cocaine into your system, you'd really struggle to replicate a cocaine high from drinking Mate de Coca. It's more like drinking weak tea. Good answer here: http://www.quora.com/Tea/Is-coca-tea-addictive/answer/David-Gorczyca http://www.quora.com/Tea/Is-coca-tea-addictive/answer/David-...
nicholassmith 14y ago
I didn't realise Freud went down the route of injecting with it, I did know he was a big fan of cocaine though. Wrote a reasonably long essay about why it was such a pillar of the modern industrial world.
- illuminate 14y ago
  Oh yes, he got his whole family addicted to it and suggested other families do the same.