Cocaine

Discovery What we know today as “lidocaine” was discovered by two Swedish chemists, Nils Löfgren and Bengt Lundqvist, in 1942. Hans v. Euler was investigating genes and enzymes that were related to barley. He then isolated gramine, which was an indole. Erdtman then synthesized the isogramine and found that it had weak anesthetic properties. Then, Erdtman and Löfgren synthesized amino amides but nothing was better than the existing ester-type anesthetic. Some time later, Löfgren and Lundqvist…

individuals have been using psychoactive substances since ancient times. The first historical records show that cannabis was used in 4000 B.C. in Central Asia and North West China. The use of the coca leaf, which holds the primary ingredient to make cocaine, was used as early as 3000 B.C in the Andeans Mountain range in South America. One of the oldest uses of psychoactive substances dates back even further. The cultivation and use of opium dates back as early as 4,200 B.C. in Europe. In ancient…

Codeine is an opioid medicine, narcotic, and cough suppressant commonly used as a painkiller to treat mild to moderate pain. But codeine is also widely abused and used as a drug and this is why it should be placed on the banned list. Codeine is sometimes considered one of the more “safer” opioid drugs, but that leads people to believe that it's safer to use and leads to massive amounts of addiction to codeine. Codeine, when consumed, is metabolized in the body and becomes morphine, which is a…

The use of methamphetamines or meth is a wide spread epidemic across the world, but in the United States the use of meth is on the rise and fast. A major reason why meth is being used by so many addicts is because it is cheap, easy to make, and the high can last for up to 12 hours. Not only can the use of meth cause permanent damage to your brain, it can also cause unrepairable and severe oral health effects. “There are currently about 1.7 million abusers and in 2008, 13 million people over the…

Crack is a term used to refer to a form of cocaine that is smoked. As the name indicates, the drug was named after the crackling sound it produces when heated. According to Reinarman and Levine, the emergence of crack sale in the mid-1980s in the American society was purely a marketing innovation which entailed packaging a relatively expensive and upscale cocaine into small, inexpensive units (2). However, as Cooper points out, before the emergence of…

Some have argued in favor of it being legal, and some have argued against it being legal. Over the past five years, we have seen numerous state and local debates about whether or not it should be legal, and few heated debates over it. Presently, it is one of top issues and hot topic on United States national policy. Now, I am sure that you have already figured out what I am talking about. Yes, you are correct! Marijuana it is! Marijuana is and will continue to be a hot topic for many. I chose to…

Crank The book Crank by Ellen Hopkins the first book in a series. It is about a teenage girl who had big dreams and made very good choices who spend a couple weeks with her deadbeat father. While she was there she picked up on some awful habits that would affect her for the rest of her life. This novel takes the reader on an intense journey about a girl who struggles with herself and her family. It really can open the eyes of someone who has never experienced the things that Kristina gets…

I had some struggles finding a decent PSA. There are a lot of graphic and somewhat upsetting PSAs out there. I suppose the point is to leave a lasting impression that will leave you thinking twice before you act. For example, the modern drug PSAs seem to revolve around the dangers of meth. I also noticed a lot of anti-cigarette PSAs. While they may leave a lasting impression, I didn't want to use one because they only left me feeling upset. For me personally, I prefer a PSA with a positive or…

that although cocaine dependant individuals have decreased ability for stimulus-response learning, their ability to make basic associations remains intact (Vadhan, 2014). As previously mentioned, cocaine gives the user a feeling of euphoria through the increased release and decreased reuptake of the dopamine neurotransmitter within the synaptic gap, especially in the nucleus accumbens (Volkow, 1997). Over time, the repetitive influx of dopamine molecules can have detrimental effects on…

the film Cocaine Unwrapped, which was able to provide an understanding of Venezuela’s wraith thiss drug. Being more curious about this topic, I was able to find a documentary series, Narcos, which gives the battle of cocaine in the neighboring state. Both of these states had been having a long, hurtful battle with cocaine. Two different sides of the war on narcotics that affected every citizen of the cities and towns in multiple ways. Venezuela and Colombia had violent history with cocaine, but…