[MUSIC]
1492
is one of the most significant dates in
world history, because that is
the date on which Christopher Columbus
sailed
across the Atlantic and discovered the
Americas.
Whether or not he ever realized he'd
discovered
the Americas is a topic for another
discussion.
In the Americas, there were numerous
species which
did not occur in the Old World, and
likewise, in the Old World, there were
numerous
species that did not occur in the New.
But Columbus' crossing of the Atlantic
allowed those species
to intermingle, and this is called "The
Columbian Exchange".
And the old world did very well out of it,
and gained many valuable and useful
species from the new world.
For instance, pineapples, papaya,
potatoes, tomatoes, chilli.
Chocolate, corn, turkeys, the antimalarial
medicine
quinine, all of these came to the Old
World from the New World
after 1492 and made the Old World a much
better place.
In exchange, the Old World sent to the New
World, wheat, horses and hard liquor.
But not all the things that came from the
new world were quite so beneficial.
For instance, tobacco, syphilis,
and the subject of this part of the
lecture, cocaine.
Well, cocaine is a chemical that is
produced by this plant,
Erythroxylon coca, which has been
cultivated in the Andes
since ancient times, particularly in
countries
such as Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, and
Colombia.
Most of this area was part of the Inca
empire.
Under the Incas, cocaine production and
use was very strictly regulated.
Of course, when the Incas empire collapsed
under the pressure from
the Spanish Conquistadors, this strict 
control of cocaine also disappeared.
Now, why did the people up in the Andes
grow the coca plant?
And the reason is that living up in the
Andes
at such high altitude, you need a lot of
stamina,
and small doses of cocaine, which you
could obtain for instance by chewing
some coca leaves or drinking some coca
tea, boosts your physical stamina.
And visitors to high altitude areas of
these countries today, may well
still be offered a cup of coca tea, to
help them cope with, the altitude.
In fact, it is still widely cultivated in
South America, and many of the poor farmers
in these parts of South America still
depend on this plant for their livelihood.
Indeed, the current president of Bolivia,
Evo Morales, was a
former leader of the Coca Farmers Union in
that country.
Well, how did cocaine get out of South
America?
Well, after Columbus' discovery, for as
long as possible,
the Spanish tried to close their empire in
South America from the rest of the
world.
They didn't want other countries
benefiting
from the trade with their empire.
So it's only with the collapse of Spanish
power in South
America in the early part of the 19th
century that materials
such as coca could come to North America
and to Europe.
And when people first experienced the
effects
of coca, they thought it was wonderful,
and so it initially became very
fashionable. But when
the side effects became apparent, it was
very quickly banned.
Early users who thought it was good
stuff include Sherlock Holmes and
Sigmund Freud.
Freud thought that cocaine use would
allow him
to see inside the minds of his patients.
In the Sherlock Holmes stories,
particularly the early stories, Sherlock
Holmes
quite often injects himself with
cocaine.
Another use for cocaine was as an
ophthalmic anaesthetic.
Ophthalmologists would, use it on the eye
of
their patients, though now, again, that
use has been
superseded by the use of synthetic
chemicals which
don't have all the other biological
effects of cocaine.
So here's an example, cocaine tooth drops.
If you've got a toothache,
put some cocaine on your teeth and the
pain will go away.
You can't get cocaine tooth drops
anymore.
Well there are different forms of cocaine,
and this
is because cocaine is what we call an
alkaloid.
It is a natural compound that contains a
nitrogen atom, which is basic.
So the free cocaine molecule, which exists
as a chunky material, and is
known as crack cocaine, is the neutral
nitrogen containing molecule.
And this can be smoked,
it can be snorted,
or it can be injected.
Powder that you often see is actually
cocaine hydrochloride, and
that is a compound of the free base
cocaine with hydrochloric acid.
And this forms the white powder.
Now, cocaine that is sold on the streets
may also be cut.
That means it has been diluted with other
white
coloured materials, simply to make the
smuggled material go further.
And it may be cut with material that have
no effect on the user, such as mannitol or
sugar,
or it may be mixed for instance with
anaesthetics.
And the reason that the drug dealers can
do this and get away with it,
is because of course their customers
can't go
complaining to the Better Business Bureau
about it.
Now I said earlier that cocaine comes from
the coca leaf,
that's the leaf of the coca plant.
And you're probably aware of a well-known
soft
drink, that has the word Coca in it's
name.
And it's believed that the original
recipe for that soft drink actually did
contain extracts of cocoa leaf, and
therefore
would have contained small amounts of
cocaine.
It's well known, it's famous, that the
recipe for that soft drink is a secret but
we can be quite confident that nowadays,
that has been removed from the recipe.
The other part of the name of course, is
Cola.
And cola is this tree here, and cola is
a flavouring ingredient extracted from the
nuts of this tree.
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