3 - 15 - 2019 | Coca Cola is a world renowned soft drink, and one that I enjoy regularly, however it was not always used for a fizzy beverage. In 1886, Atlanta Pharmacist John Pemberton invented the beverage using ingredients that mimicked a French beverage called cola-wine. However, this was not the same soft drink we enjoy today, the original recipe contained high amounts of opiods, cocaine specifically, that made the drink so "Popular". It's original purpose was for medicine, in relieving headaches, nausea, pain, and other unpleasant symptoms. Since Cocaine wasn't illegal in the U.S until 1914, this drink was very widely consumed. However, after public disdain for the drug grew, the then CEO of Coca-Cola decided to remove almost all narcotics from the bubbly beverage in 1903. All cocaine content was removed by 1929, when they could successfully remove all of the opiod from the natural ingredients.
The product, after cocaine was considered unpopular for public use in 1903, was then redirected to a more commercial use, and converted to a normal soft drink rather than a tonic. The problems with this were that, at the time, cocaine was used heavily in the product, and they had not conducted enough research on the substance to determine whether or not it was safe for continual consumption. This created a lot of addictive tendencies in customers that the Coca-Cola company still denies to this day. It also doesn't help that the suspicious substance was removed 15 years after it was banned in the U.S.
Research Link:
https://www.livescience.com/41975-does-coca-cola-contain-cocaine.html
