History of Cocaine Time Line

The Truth About Drugs: What Is It?

This introductory video explains to children exactly why drugs are such a destructive force in society and why they shouldn't be used.

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c. 3000 B.C.
Coca chewing is practiced throughout South America. Coca is believed to be a gift from God.

1400s
Coca plantations are operated by Incas in Peru.

1505
First hand accounts of coca use made their way back to Europe. Amerigo Vespucci (1505), G Frenandez de Oviedo (1535), and Nicholas Monardes (1565).

Early 1500s
Incan Coca plantations are taken over by holders of Spanish land grants. Spanish tax laws are revised to allow land owners to make their tax payments in coca leaves.

1539
The Bishop of Cuzco tithes coca, taking 1/10 of the value of each crop in taxes.

Mid 1500s
Coca production in Peru expands quickly causing a glut of leaf on the market which in turn precipitated a drop in the price of coca.

1574
Monardes' text on Coca is first translated into other European languages from Spanish; Latin (1574), Italian (1576), English (1577).

c. 1575
Forced laborers working in the Spanish silver mines were kept well supplied with Coca leaves. Roughly 8% of the Europeans living in Peru were involved in the Coca trade.

1662
Abraham Cowley writes a poem titled "A Legend of Coca". This is the first independent mention of coca in English literature.

1708
Coca is first mentioned in a materia medica, Institutiones Medicae, written by German physician and botanist Herman Boerhaave.

1835
First accurate drawing of Coca appears in popular English press. The illustration by Sir William Hooker, director of the Kew gardens, was published in Companion to the Botanical Magazine.

c. 1850
Coca tinctures used in throat surgery.

c. 1855
Cocaine first extracted from Coca leaves.

1862
Merck produces 1/4 pound of cocaine.

1869
Seeds from the commercial variety of Coca arrived at Kew Gardens.

1870
Vin Mariani (Coca wine) is for sale throughout France, containing 6 mg cocaine per ounce of wine. Exported Vin Mariani contained 7.2 mg per ounce to compete with the higher cocaine content of American competitors.

1870s
Parke,Davis manufactures a fluid extract of coca.