Cocaine

Cocaine use dates back more than fifteen centuries to the indigenous people of the Andes Mountains, who would use the drug for medicinal and recreational purposes. The first person to synthesize processed cocaine hydrocholoride was a man by the name of Albert Niemann. Dr. Niemann worked at the University of Gottigen in Germany and synthesized the drug in 1859. The immediate reaction to the new supposed miracle drug was that it could cure any ailment, from fatigue to toothaches to headaches. In later years, cocaine began to be used as an anaesthetic and as a treatment for addictions to morphine.
One of the first warnings that the effects of the drug could be problematic was the addiction to cocaine by Dr. William Halstead. Dr. Halstead was the first doctor to use cocaine as an aplicable form of anaesthetic. In the 1900's, the United States mixed cocaine in with everyday products. Hay fever elixers, nerve tonics, and even Coca-Cola - which changed its perky incredient to caffeine in 1903 - contained cocaine as a main incredient.
Since cocaine was found to be highly addictive, it was declared a national threat by former-President William Taft in 1910. In 1914, the Harrison Act was passed. This act prevented the non-medical use and importation of cocaine into the United States, delt the same penalty for abuse as harder drug users, and strictly required prescriptions to obtain cocaine. Through the Harrison Act and the introduciton of amphetamines, police attention to cocaine use, abuse, and addiction was no longer considered necessary by the 1950's.
In the 1960's, cocaine use spiked back up and was at it's highest peak since the Harrison Act was put into effect. Congress declared the drug a Schedule II controlled substance. This means that cocaine could have a high abuse or dependancy rate but still had legitimate medical uses. In the 1980's, psychiatrists claimed that cocaine had no major problems associated with its use as long as it was limitted to two or three times a week. The use of cocaine has since risen, and the fight to control its abuse is once again in effect.
The obvious controversy about cocaine is that it is an addictive and illegal drug. The effects of cocaine range from Short-Term Effects to Long-Term Effects. The short-term effects are noticable immediately and include increased blood pressure, heart rate, energy, and temperature as well as constricted blood vessels, dilated pupils, mental allertness, and decreased appitite. The long-term effects prevail in high tollerance abuse of cocaine and include addiction, paranoia, irritability, mood disturbances, and auditory hallucinations.
The punishment for possesion of cocaine can range from four months to fifteen years in prison and a person can be fined from $1,000 to $500,000. The punishment for selling cocaine is one year to life in prison and a person can be fined from $2,500 to $1,000,000.
I believe the use of cocaine is wrong, even with the practicle medical implications. I'm sure people who use cocaine disagree with me, but of all the lives and relationships and careers the drug has probably ruined through its addictive nature, I couldn't understand anything positive about it.