by Eva Pronovost

Created on: July 31, 2008   Last Updated: September 02, 2011

John Pemberton's original Coca-Cola contained cocaine, caffeine, and alcohol, which was a popular and perfectly acceptable patent medicine at the time. The most popular of the cocawines was Vin Mariani from France, which was enjoyed world-wide and used by opera singers to numb sore throats and provide a sudden, intoxicating jolt of energy.

Pemberton, a pharmacist, decided to capitalise on Vin Mariani's popularity by inventing a similar carbonated beverage that contained the three most popular wonder drugs of the Victorian era: alcohol, cocaine, and caffeine. Unfortunately for him, Pemberton's home state of Atlanta passed prohibition laws in 1886 and Pemberton had to invent a 'temperance' recipe for his drink if he wanted to keep making it.

Cocaine, however, was still legal - and was hailed as a benign substitute for alcohol. Pemberton therefore booted the wine and kept the cocaine and caffeine, which were derived from coca leaves and kola nuts, respectively; hence the name, 'Coca-Cola'. Coca-Cola was marketed as medicinal drink and claimed to cure morphine addictions, dyspepsia, melancholy, headaches, hysteria, and impotence.

Americans at the time also believed that carbonated water was good for them, and trendy soda shops had replaced the saloons closed by prohibition as social hot-spots within a community. Coca-Cola was sold for five cents a glass and its easy accessibility, combined with an aggressive marketing campaign, made the drink hugely popular. The New York Times even hailed Coca-Cola as a wonder drug,

No one knows how much cocaine went into the original recipe, but in the Southern states it was known as "dope" or a "shot in the arm". Each serving contained an estimated 9 mg of cocaine, but thirsty patrons often enjoyed more than one glass per day and would have ingested an amount comparable to today's street dose of 20-30 mg. Delivery boys, office workers, and salesmen were Coca-Cola's best customers and would drink Coca Cola through the day as a way to boost their energy, and became so dependent on it that a delivery boy who had lost his job and was unable to afford his daily Coca-Cola fix went to the doctor in a "very nervous, almost collapsed condition."

Unfortunately for Coca-Cola, cocaine began to lose public favour in the 1890's as the government took on a greater responsibility for its citizens' health and morality. 'Cocainism' was linked to prostitution and theft, and cocaine users were condemned as a blight on society because their enthusiasm

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