Cocaine
for your hair sir? Mad
drug products from a bygone age...
Before the full effects of Cocaine were
documented and their side effects published
a number of high street products were introduced,
not surprisingly most of them did very well,
with most customers coming back for repeat
orders. Perhaps the most famous of all being
Coca Cola and Pepsi, both of which were
advertised and sold successfully as a health
tonic. Unsurprisingly they both had an immediate
seemingly beneficial ‘cure all affect’,
which led to the phenomenal success both
companies have enjoyed ever since. However
these were the tip of the iceberg as many
more products were invented and marketed
at the time, we set off to try and buy some
without a great deal of success
(sob!)
Peruvian
Wine of Coca
According to the Sears,
Roebuck and Co. Consumers' Guide (1900),
their extraordinary Peruvian Wine of
Coca...
" ...sustains and refreshes both the
body and brain... It may be taken at any
time with perfect safety...it has been effectually
proven that in the same space of time more
than double the amount of work could be
undergone when Peruvian Wine of Coca was
used, and positively no fatigue experienced..."
Some 99% of contemporary Western users
mix cocaine and ethyl alcohol. Cocaine
and alcohol combine to form another hugely
reinforcing compound, cocaethlyene. Coca-use
only really took off in the West when
it was blended with an alcoholic beverage.
Buying
attempts:
Wine Rack – No luck
Oddbins – Said they may be able to order it for us (Wahey!)
Tesco's - No luck
Vin Mariani
The real soaraway success in Europe
was Vin Mariani. Launched in 1863, it
was an extremely palatable coca wine
developed by the Corsican entrepreneur,
Angelo Mariani (1838-1914). Mariani first
tried his new tonic on a depressed actress.
The results were spectacular. She soon
told all her friends. Mariani himself
wrote a book eulogising coca; and he
gathered artefacts of, and material on,
the coca-loving Incas. At home, he collected
coke-taking paraphernalia. He also took
up amateur horticulture and cultivated
the coca plant in his garden.
Coca wine made Mariani famous. Vin
Mariani rapidly became the world's most
popular prescription. Writers loved it.
Anatole France, Henrik Ibsen, Jules Verne,
Alexander Dumas, Robert Louis Stephenson,
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and other literary
luminaries all indulged freely. Composers
such as Massenet, Gounod and Fauré gratefully
honoured the Corsican druggist in their
music. Vin Mariani was celebrated by
royalty as well: by Queen Victoria; King
George 1 of Greece; King Alphonse XIII
of Spain; the Shah of Persia; and by
William McKinley, President of the United
States.
A devotion to Vin Mariani transcended
petty differences of religious dogma.
The Grand Rabbi of France, Zadoc Kahn,
was moved to write: "My conversion
is complete. Praise be to Mariani's wine!" Pope
Pius X was an enthusiast, as was Pope
Leo XIII. He gave coca wine an official
seal of approval by awarding Angelo Mariani
a special gold medal. In recent years,
however, the Vatican has felt unable
to reiterate its original endorsement.
Buying
attempts:
Wine Rack – No luck
Threshers – Probably could order it for us if they do it (Wahey!)
ASDA – Not sure what we are talking about!
The real
Coca Cola
John Pemberton (1832-1888), the Atlanta-born
discoverer of Coca Cola, was a keen pharmacist
and coca-lover. He sought to combine
the ultimate medicine and perfect drink
in one glorious cocktail. Pemberton based
his original drink on Vin Mariani. It
was said to be "a most wonderful
invigorator of the sexual organs". "Pemberton's
French wine coca" proved singularly
popular with American consumers. Coke
was soon touted as "an intellectual
beverage"; though not on the basis
of controlled clinical trials.
Atlanta introduced Prohibition in 1886.
So Pemberton had to replace the wine
in his recipe with sugar syrup. Thus
'Pemberton's French wine cola' became
'Coca-Cola: the temperance drink'.
Official approval of coca-based tonics
began to wane towards the end of the
century. Unfortunately, people who were
prescribed cocaine to combat morphine
dependence were becoming addicted to
both.
In 1904, America's gathering moral panic
about drug-abuse led the manufacturers to
remove the cocaine from Coca-Cola. It is
now official Coca-Cola Company policy to
deny the existence of cocaine in their original
world-winning formula. The US Government
later tried to compel the company to drop
the name 'Coca-Cola' too. After protracted
legal argument, the name was saved; but
traditionalists claimed the drink itself
never quite recaptured its original glory.
Buying
attempts:
Coca Cola Corporation – No luck
Boots – Very funny!
Tesco’s – I don’t think so!
Iron Bitters
Early advertisement for a popular cocaine-laced
elixir, Iron Bitters. Iron Bitters was a
patented medicine touted as a cure for malaria,
indigestion and "female infirmities".
This marvelous brew was also advertised
as a tonic for kids. The modern medical
consensus discourages giving cocaine to
small children, though its functional analogue,
methylphenidate (Ritalin), is commonly prescribed
instead.
Buying
attempts:
local corner shop – Very helpful
but er, no we don’t stock that
sorry!
Boots – Thought they may have heard of it!
Tesco’s - No luck
Cocaine
Hair pomade
" THE BEST HAIRDRESSING...COCOAINE....Kills
dandruff, promotes the Growth
of the Hair, cures Scaldhead, and all the Irritation of the Scalp..."
Buying
attempts:
Boots – Will call security if
you don’t leave quietly
Sainsbury - Never heard of it!
The Duke’s head – Will a pint of Kronenbourg do?
