Cocaine: The evolution of the once 'wonder' drug - CNN.com
The history of cocaine(CNN) -- Long before drug cartels, crack wars and TV shows about addiction, cocaine was promoted as a wonder drug, sold as a cure-all and praised by some of the greatest minds in medical history, including Sigmund Freud and the pioneering surgeon William Halsted.
According to historian Dr. Howard Markel, it was even promoted by the likes of Thomas Edison, Queen Victoria and Pope Leo XIII.
It was an explosive debut that would be echoed a century later, when cocaine re-emerged as a different kind of miracle drug, the kind that could let you party all night long with no ill effects and no risk of addiction. Each time, the enthusiasm was misplaced and the explosion left a wreckage of human lives behind.
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What are the side effects of chewing coca leaves? Or of smoking opium from poppies?
When the active compounds in cannabis have been isolated, refined, and synthesized I wonder if their side effects will be as dangerous as those of opioids and cocaine. If Spice is any indication I'd say they very well may be.
I certainly agree that people will go to great lengths to deny the downfalls of the things they tend to like, especially if they feel a great need to justify their choices against a general negative social perception in states and nations living highly subject to rule of law and mass morality. This applies to such things as politics, religion, and gender identity as much as to any substance of use or abuse (like food, water, air, exercise - which creates a sense of euphoria and well-being in the brain and body by stimulating the release not of endorphins, but endocannibinoids - drugs, herbs, medicine, coffee, cigarettes, sex, and on and on and on).
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