Coke Coca-Cola Is 126 Years Old Today

[Joyrex]

From Wikipedia:

 

 

1886: Trying to come up with a headache cure and general pain reliever, pharmacist

John Pemberton invents the beverage that will become known to the world as Coca-Cola in a backyard kettle.

Pemberton received a medical degree at 19 and worked as a druggist in Columbus, Georgia, before joining the Confederate army during the Civil War. He rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel with the Third Georgia Cavalry and was severely wounded in battle.

Trying to control the pain resulting from those wounds, Pemberton became addicted to morphine.

After the war, Pemberton settled in Atlanta, where he began work on a beverage combining coca leaves and cola nuts. His objective was to create a pain reliever but when his lab assistant accidentally mixed the concoction with carbonated water on May 8, 1886, the two men tasted it, liked it, and decided it might make a profitable alternative to ginger ale and root beer.

Pemberton sold the rights to Coca-Cola (twice, actually, but that’s another story) as his behavior became more erratic. He died only two years after his accidental invention and only a few months after the Coca Cola Corporation was incorporated.

It’s no urban myth: Coca leaves do indeed contain traces of cocaine, which was then believed to help control one’s dependence on opiates, including the morphine that helped end Pemberton’s life at 57.

[awepittance]

126 years later, still the only entity in the USA allowed to grow the Schedule 1 plant Coca.

 

yes folks, Coca-cola still uses the cocaine containing coca plant as a 'flavoring ingredient' , they say its no longer putting actual psychoactive amounts of cocaine in their soft drink

 

it would be nice to be such a powerful corporation that you have carte blanche to circumvent federal drug laws that everyone else has to follow.

[Guest fiznuthian]

slightly relevant

 

[SR4]

126 years later, still the only entity in the USA allowed to grow the Schedule 1 plant Coca.

 

yes folks, Coca-cola still uses the cocaine containing coca plant as a 'flavoring ingredient' , they say its no longer putting actual psychoactive amounts of cocaine in their soft drink

 

it would be nice to be such a powerful corporation that you have carte blanche to circumvent federal drug laws that everyone else has to follow.

 

could you link the source? thats insane...i thought that ended back in the 20s. would love to read more about this.

[Hugh Mughnus]

126 years later, still the only entity in the USA allowed to grow the Schedule 1 plant Coca.

 

yes folks, Coca-cola still uses the cocaine containing coca plant as a 'flavoring ingredient' , they say its no longer putting actual psychoactive amounts of cocaine in their soft drink

 

it would be nice to be such a powerful corporation that you have carte blanche to circumvent federal drug laws that everyone else has to follow.

 

If I'm not mistaken, cocaine ends up as a byproduct of the processing and they sell it to a drug company... mallin something? mallinckrot?

 

Edit: I know it's only a wikipedia quote but... "

In the United States, the Stepan Company is the only manufacturing plant authorized by the Federal Government to import and process the coca plant,^[30] which it obtains mainly from Peru and, to a lesser extent, Bolivia. Besides producing the coca flavoring agent for Coca-Cola, the Stepan Company extracts cocaine from the coca leaves, which it sells to Mallinckrodt, a St. Louis, Missouri pharmaceutical manufacturer that is the only company in the United States licensed to purify cocaine for medicinal use.^[31]"

[awepittance]

well it explicitly used to have cocaine in the drink, back then it was not uncommon for sodas to be partially 'medicinal'

7up was titled that because it had low doses of lithium in it. The soda was marketed as a mood stabilizer

 

right now they only use the illegal coca plant to create their 'secret ingredient' which they claim is the key to their flavor.

 

Coca-cola unlike other cola brands, uses an actual flavor from that plant to compliment the natural cola bean flavor

[SR4]

are there attempts to shut it down? court challenges? ive never heard of this before.

[awepittance]

126 years later, still the only entity in the USA allowed to grow the Schedule 1 plant Coca.

 

yes folks, Coca-cola still uses the cocaine containing coca plant as a 'flavoring ingredient' , they say its no longer putting actual psychoactive amounts of cocaine in their soft drink

 

it would be nice to be such a powerful corporation that you have carte blanche to circumvent federal drug laws that everyone else has to follow.

 

If I'm not mistaken, cocaine ends up as a byproduct of the processing and they sell it to a drug company... mallin something? mallinckrot?

 

i haven't heard this, but if they grow large amounts of coca plants it would be a waste for them not to do that. Since cocaine is still used in medicine in the united states, i wouldnt be surprised. (correction cocaine is actually schedule II)

[Guest fiznuthian]

I found http://www.nytimes.com/1988/07/01/business/how-coca-cola-obtains-its-coca.html

Says the same thing, but Wikipedia references NY Times which is just an article with zero references.. who knows if it's actually accurate.

[awepittance]

since you can now (for unknown reasons) import pounds of Coca leaves into the united states via Amazon.com it would be fun to try to recreate a facsimile version of the original Coca-cola recipe. I've trying making cola before a few times, but not with coca leaf, haha

[Guest fiznuthian]

I say we just band together and steal the recipe from their vault in Atlanta.. They could only stop so many WATMMers at a time..

[Hugh Mughnus]

I say we just band together and steal the recipe from their vault in Atlanta.. They could only stop so many WATMMers at a time..

 

For coca cola or for cocaine?

 

I'm down either way.

 

 

Disclaimer: not an admission of intent to engage in illegal activity including but not limited to the production or consumption of cocaine or other scheduled substances.

[awesomeperson]

Only water for me, never liked these soft drinks.

[Guest KY]

what really matters is when diet coke was invented. thats when shit got real

[SR4]

lol Coke probably has their own army. our pillaging would be short lived.

[azatoth]

Never a huge fan of Coke. There was however a local brand of cola drink that was delicious, really fresh tasting, but then the shop stopped selling it and I forgot what brand it was. I'd like to have some of that instead, pls.

[YO303]

Thanks Coca-Cola for bribing the diabetes to the first world.

 

 

Wilford Brimley

[Hugh Mughnus]

Thanks Coca-Cola for bribing the diabetes to the first world.

 

 

Wilford Brimley

 

Retardation, a celebration?

[Kanakori]

slightly relevant

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62JMfv0tf3Q

 

Damn you I was drinking coke as I watched it

[SR4]

why can't you just drink an 8 oz. glass? or a 12 oz. can?

 

 

they should do that shit comparison with a thousand other common Western food products. Singling out soda for being sugary is a bit ridiculous IMHO.

[kaen]

cheap freeway cola FTW

[BobDobalina]

why can't you just drink an 8 oz. glass? or a 12 oz. can?

 

 

they should do that shit comparison with a thousand other common Western food products. Singling out soda for being sugary is a bit ridiculous IMHO.

 

This is America man. People can't be expected to be accountable for their own actions!

 

http://www.theonion.com/articles/fun-toy-banned-because-of-three-stupid-dead-kids,290/

[Guest fiznuthian]

why can't you just drink an 8 oz. glass? or a 12 oz. can?

 

 

they should do that shit comparison with a thousand other common Western food products. Singling out soda for being sugary is a bit ridiculous IMHO.

 

God I am glad you said this.. soda gets a bad rap and a lot of people adopt the "well I cut soda out of my diet" mentality but for every soda that don't drink they're eating shit food across the board.. IMO diabetes and obesity aren't even the worst of it all..

Cutting out regular fast food meals is a tough one for a lot of people, it certainly was for me.. Soda was MUCH easier to give up than processed foods. But hey, sugar water isn't nearly as likely to fuck with your endocrine system (insulin resistance, leptin resistance, etc..) as is processed foods that hit a "sweet spot" where sugar and fats are combined to create highly rewarding palatable food. Make no mistake food can be every bit as addictive as some drugs. Here's a cool study that explores the topic. Dopaminergic pathways are not unaffected by the food we eat. Here's another review (featuring Dr. Lustig of The Bitter Truth fame) exploring the same topic in the context of fast food. Surprisingly there exists a boatload of research spanning decades that points toward food reward as a significant factor in the obesity epidemic as well as some other metabolic disorders. Here's a couple more reviews for anyone interested.. Review 1 and Review 2

 

But that's the state of "nutrition science" right now.. Everyone's looking to blame one thing or another.

Dieticians will often tell a fat person to eat less calories, and exercise more.. Simple right? Somehow I don't buy it...

[pattern recognition]

I'm actually in Atlanta this week for work, we've been talking about taking a tour of the coke factory. I'll try to nab an oompa loompa with a bag of coca leaves.

[Guest RadarJammer]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVifFHpJycc