Pure cocaine was first extracted from the leaves of the coca plant in 1859 and was marketed in a fortified wine (known as coca wine) in France as early as 1863.
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1. Caffeine is made of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen. The same as cocaine, thalidomide, nylon, TNT, and heroin.

2. Cocaine that is sold on the streets is often mixed with sugar, quinine, cornstarch, or local anesthetics.

3. Crack cocaine is considered the most addictive form of cocaine.
The name “crack” cocaine comes from the “crackling” sound that is created when impure cocaine is heated.

4. Other names for Cocaine are nose candy, white lady, stardust and Charlie.
Common street names for cocaine include coke, blow, C, marching powder, and nose candy, among dozens of others that signify cocaine and cocaine mixtures with other recreational drugs.

5. The most common way of consuming cocaine is sniffing or snorting it.
Some people will use tampon applicators to insufflate or “snort” cocaine. Such devices are often called “tooters”.
Injecting cocaine (also known as mainlining) is the quickest way to get high. Some users ears’ ring after an injection, a condition which is known as a “bell ringer.”

6. Cocaine is the most powerful central nervous stimulant found in nature. Cocaine creates feelings of alertness, energy, self-confidence, and even power.

7. Pure cocaine was first extracted from the leaves of the coca plant in 1859 and was marketed in a fortified wine (known as coca wine) in France as early as 1863.

8. Cocaine hydrochloride, the purified chemical from the leaves of the coca plant, was the main active ingredient in several tonics and elixirs produced for a variety of illnesses in the early 1900s. One product, Tucker’s Asthma Specific, contained 420 milligrams of cocaine per ounce.

9. Cocaine is derived from the leaves of the coca plant. Three countries, Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia account for all the coca harvested in the world.

10. Some users mix cocaine and heroine, which is known as a speedball.

11. The Incas revered the coca plant as being sacred or magical.
Inca civilization in the Andes Mountains believed the cocaine was a gift from the gods.

12. Every day, 2,500 Americans try cocaine for the first time.

13. Between 14 and 21 million people use Cocaine each year.

14. Globally, over 200 million people use illegal drugs, of which 21 million use cocaine.

14. A cocaine addict’s heart can beat for 25 minutes outside their body.

15. Taking cocaine increases the chance of having a heart attack within the hour by 2,400%.

16. More than 400,000 babies are born addicted to cocaine each year in the U.S., due to their mothers’ use of the drug during pregnancy.

17. More Colombians die every year from American tobacco than Americans die from Colombian cocaine.

18. In the US today, prescription painkillers kill more Americans than heroin and cocaine combined.

19. The illegal market for cocaine is between $100 and $500 billion each year globally.

20. The United States consumes approximately 37% of the world’s cocaine, although they only make up less than 5% of the world’s population. Europe and South America round out the top three cocaine consumers.

21. Scotland has the highest cocaine use of any other country in the world. One in 40 Scots use the drug, or about 2.4% of the population.

22. The price of cocaine went down by 51% in Europe since 1990.

23. Cocaine can be purchased for about US$5 per gram in Colombia while in the U.S. it sells for at least US$100.

24. A gram of cocaine costs €207 in Australia but just €9 in Brazil.

25. Cupcakes can be as addictive as cocaine.
High-sugar and processed foods are just as addictive or more so than cocaine.

26. Worldwide sales of cocaine earn more than Microsoft, McDonald’s, and Kellogg’s combined.

27. 90% of US$ bills carry traces of Cocaine.
According to one study, trace amounts of cocaine can be found on four out of every five dollar bills in circulation. However, because cocaine is a fine powder and is easily spread around, presence of the drug does not necessarily mean the bill was used as a snorting straw.

28. 92% of public baby changing tables tested in the UK carried traces of cocaine.

29. Traces of nicotine and cocaine were found in Egyptian mummies.

30. Men are more likely to use cocaine than women because the drug is associated with living dangerously and wildly, but the gender gap is beginning to decrease.
Men tend to feel the effects of cocaine faster than women and report more episodes of euphoria and dysphoria (intense bad feelings) related to the drug than women do.

31. In 1885, a U.S. manufacturer sold cocaine with the promise that cocaine would “make the coward brave, the silent eloquent, and render the sufferer insensitive to pain.” They even include a syringe in the packaging.

32. In London in 1916, Harrods was selling a kit described as “A Welcome Present for Friends at the Front” containing cocaine, morphine, syringes and needles.

33. Cocaine raises dopamine levels by 250%, compared to 100% from sex and 50% from food.
Being in love and being high on cocaine activates the same portions of the brain.

34. In the Netherlands, there are dozens of public facilities where you can bring recreational drugs including marijuana, cocaine and ecstasy to test if they are safe.

35. Cocaine has a small number of accepted medical uses such as numbing and decreasing bleeding during nasal surgery.
Cocaine was first used in the U.S. in the 1880s, where it was applied as an anesthetic in eye, nose, and throat operations.

36. In 1961, the international Convention on Narcotic Drugs has required countries to make recreational use of cocaine a criminal offence.

37. Research has found that fathers who use cocaine prior to conceiving a child have sons who struggle to make new memories.

38. Chronic cocaine use can cause a condition called “bruxism,” which is involuntary teeth grinding.

39. Chronic cocaine use can destroy the cartilage separating a person’s nostrils.

40. Because cocaine can cause dehydration and a dry mouth, users may have less saliva in their mouth, which can lead to tooth decay.

41. Ingesting both cocaine and alcohol causes more deaths than any other drug combination.

42. Cocaine overdose is the most common reason for drug-related visits to the emergency department in the U.S., causing 31% of such visits. In 1978, cocaine accounted for only 1% of drug-related emergency room visits.

43. Approximately 10% of people who begin using cocaine will immediately progress to serious, heavy use of the drug.

44. After marijuana, cocaine is the second most commonly used illicit drug in the United States.

45. Cocaine users tend to have higher rates of antisocial personality disorder, depression, anxiety, and multi-substance abuse than the general population. These traits are also more common among their immediate-family relatives.

46. Cocaine has been described as the “perfect heart attack drug” because it increases blood pressure, stiffens arteries, and thickens heart muscle walls. These abnormalities persist long after the effects of cocaine have worn off, even in recreational users.

47. Sharing straws to snort cocaine can spread several blood diseases, including hepatitis C.

48. Coca-Cola originally contained an estimated nine milligrams of cocaine per serving. While cocaine was officially removed from the drink’s ingredients in 1903, a cocaine-free version of the coca leaf is still used as a flavor additive in the soda.

49. The direct pharmacological effects of the drug itself causes only one third of the deaths associated with cocaine use. The vast majority of deaths related to cocaine are caused by homicide, suicide, and motor vehicle collisions as a result of the drug’s mind-altering properties.

50. Because cocaine is popular among middle to upper-class communities, it is known as the “rich man’s drug.”

51. Pope Leo XIII carried a hip flask full of wine infused with cocaine.

52. Psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud famously advocated cocaine for treating depression, alcoholism, and morphine addiction.

53. The famous nineteenth-century literary character Sherlock Holmes frequently used cocaine, especially when he didn’t have any stimulating cases to excite his mind.

54. Robert Louis Stevenson wrote the 60,000-words-long “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” during a six-day cocaine high.

55. Writer Stephen King was addicted to cocaine between 1979 and 1987 and used it to create a buzz to write.

56. While shooting “The Blues Brothers” movie, they had a budget for cocaine.

57. “Under Pressure” was written by David Bowie and Queen during a 24-hour wine and cocaine marathon.

58. Aerosmith frontman, Steven Tyler admitted that he spent over $5 million on cocaine in the 1970s and 1980s.

59. Hitler was addicted to cocaine, among many other drugs, which helped fuel his ranting paranoia.

60. Both Ernest Shackleton and Captain Scott took cocaine tablets on their South Pole expeditions.

61. In 1884, William Stewart Halsted, a famous American physician, performed the first surgery using cocaine as an anesthetic. Halsted would later become the first cocaine-addicted physician on record.

62. In 1994, a 75-pound bag of cocaine fell out of a plane and landed in the middle of a Florida crime watch meeting.

63. A British father accidentally sent a Tupperware full of cocaine with his son to preschool. He was in a hurry to get his son to Smarty Pants Preschool and thought the Tupperware was the boy’s lunch.

64. One woman tried to smuggle cocaine in her breast implants. Airport officials grew suspicious when they noticed bandages and gauze under one of her breasts.

65. In the early 1900s, white business owners would encourage their African-American employees to cocaine to boost their performance.

66. Karl Koller (1857-1944), an Austrian ophthalmologist, experimented with the anesthetic qualities of cocaine by infamously applying the drug to his own eye and then pricking it with needles.

67. Police in Chile arrested in 2009 a woman bound for Spain who was carrying suitcases made from (rather than filled with) 20 kilos (44lb) of cocaine.

68. Carrier pigeons are regularly used to smuggle drugs across borders and into prisons. A single pigeon can carry over $3000 of cocaine.