[newnewpdro]

Historically racism and fear played a massive role in the prohibition of cocaine, it's similar to marijuana in that regard.

Cocaine was present in Coca-Cola for over a decade before being removed, not because of the negative health risks but because blacks got access to it once it became available in bottles. Prior to bottles, it was only available at fountains accessible only to whites. [1]

It's not like caffeine is without its risks and negatives. I lived with someone addicted to caffeine for a decade and it was like living with a junky in a number of ways. She tried quitting dozens of times and it would just cause a week of migraines and dysfunction before she'd relapse. Every morning she would be pissy and make a mess of the kitchen until she got her caffeine fix.

Caffeine is also a major cause of suffering for surgical patients because the operation is oftentimes the longest they've gone without caffeine in decades, so they're experiencing withdrawal symptoms throughout the experience having already fasted for a day.

Some day Cocaine will be legal again.

[1] https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/01/why-we-to...