Ask A Scientist© General Science Archive

name        Larry
status      other
age         40s

Question -  You say Coke once had cocaine in it, but the Coca-cola 
company consistently denies this claim (who makes this claim?). Which is 
true? Why would they lie? Is this another urban legand?
-----------------------------------------------
Some comment on the Coca-cola history appears at
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_033.html and anyone could readily
verify the info offered there by checking names & dates associated with the
events noted in the article.
Dr. Dinsmore
=========================================================
According to the reference cited below, which is one of the
most widely used college-level textbooks in substance use and abuse,
the basic facts seem to be that Coca-Cola was formulated in 1886 in
Atlanta by Dr. J.C. Pemberton as a tonic, containing caramel, fruit
flavoring, phosphoric acid, caffeine, and "a secret mixture called
Merchandise No. 5," a mixture "containing the tonic properties of the
wonderful coca plant and the famous cola nut." (first quote from the text,
second from an early ad for Coke). The book goes on to say that "In 1903
the company admitted that there were small amounts of cocaine in its
beverage, but soon after that they quietly removed it all; a
government analysis of Coca-Cola in 1906 did not find any." The
company eventually had to reveal the composition of Merchandise No. 5
to the federal government for its approval, a long, long, time before
the FDA came into existence.

Apparently Coke is still flavored with extracts from coca leaves,
but with the cocaine removed, to this day. The book says that
a pharmaceutical company in NJ does the removal and ships the
decocainized leaves to Atlanta.

Source: "Drugs, Society and Human Behavior," 8th edition, 1998,
by Oakley Ray and Charles Ksir, McGraw-Hill.

*****************************************************************************
Robert Q. Topper, Ph.D.
=========================================================