Term Paper on "Cocaine Market Since the Late 19th Century"

Term Paper 5 pages (1586 words) Sources: 1+ Style: MLA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Cocaine Market

Since the late 19th century, cocaine has played a major role in the financing of the world's drug market. Even before the drug became illegal many people understood its potency and addictive nature and made many attempts to capitalize on it. As the years passed by and more people including the government learned and understood more about the drug, they then moved to restrict its sale and use due to its popularity and potential earning power. Over the past 2 centuries the cocaine business has grown and evolved immensely. It started out for medicinal use and a way for scientists and entrepreneurs to profit and developed all the way to an illegal underworld that has affected the lives of many and also fattened the pockets of people who recognized and understood the drugs' effect on people and the earning power it meant for them as a result. The cocaine business has remained a profitable business over the years. However as the drug market changed and more people understood the drug, many began profiting uncontrollably from it causing the government to do more to control and outright restrict the cocaine trade.

Cocaine's Early History on the Drug Market

During the late 19th century people began to understand and realize the potential marketability and profitability of cocaine as a result of its potent side effects and addictive nature. Natives of Peru and Bolivia had been chewing on cocoa leaves for thousands of years as a way of stimulating their bodies and helping with digestion. (Business Heroes, 1998) However, a man by the name of John Smith Pemberton was the first person to recognize the true value of the cocoa plant and its potential for profit. Pemberton became the original inventor of Coca Cola based on his desire to create a medicine and a satisfying drink together as one single beverage. (Business Heroes, 1998) Pemberton had created many medicines and cures before, however the things he was learning about the cocoa plant excited him immensely. At the time, many people doubted coca's addictive nature and market potential; however Pemberton took the advice of people like Sigmund Freud who believed their was something special about the plant. Freud even studied it and wrote an essay about it in which he wrote about his, "praise to the magical substance." (Freud, 1886)

In 1885, Pemberton released a product called, "Pemberton's French Wine Coca" and advertised it as an "intellectual beverage that would invigorate the brain." He also marketed it as a product that could help people to overcome morphine addiction. (Business Heroes, 1998) a few years later the first signs of cocaine's illegality came about due to the fact that the original beverage was an alcohol-based drink. This forced Pemberton to recreate the drink and remarket it as a different product. This is where Pemberton came up with the idea of mixing the drink with the Cola nut and selling it as the nonalcoholic beverage that came to be known as "Coca Cola." (cocaine.org, 2002) at this time, Pemberton's health deteriorated and two business men by the names of Lowndes and Venable bought the beverage because they too recognized its marketable and addictive nature. Although the beverage is no longer made with the coca plant in its ingredients it has still remained a multi-million dollar business throughout the world.

Very Sellable, but Illegal Drug

Realizing cocaine's addictive nature and growing market value, the United States Government made its manufacturing and distribution illegal with the Controlled Substances Act of 1970. It was also in this decade that the cocaine trade took off as the drug became a very popular part of the culture in the United States.

Understanding the drug's growing popularity, cocaine once again became a huge business beginning in South American countries, especially Columbia, and finding its way to the drug market in the United States. (cocaine.org)

Reasons for Cocaine's Popularity

Suddenly, millions of people in the United States were using the drug, creating a huge demand for it. As a result an even greater supply made the cocaine trade a very profitable business. One of the main reasons for such high levels of cocaine consumption in the in to the late 1970's was due to the fact that not everyone believed the drug had the same potential for addiction as other narcotics such as speed or heroine. (Peele, 1998) at this time in the early 1970's it is believed that nearly 15 million Americans had used or were using cocaine on a recreational basis. (Peele, 1998) in many ways, the media helped the drug market by making it seem glamorous to use and telling people that the drug did not have an addictive nature. Much of the drug's popularity was evident in the 70's disco era, at clubs such as the famous "Studio 54" where celebrities and other socialites would hang out and use cocaine. It had become an understood part of the culture at the time, thus creating a business that, although illegal, was bustling like no other product on the market. (Brecher, 2002)

This allowed the cocaine market to flourish at this time because little was being done to detect or prevent it from being moved across borders and distributed in the United States. As one drug historian with an expertise in Colombian cartels writes, "Traffickers started out with much more modest goals. In the mid-1970s, marijuana traffickers in Colombia began exporting small quantities of cocaine to the United States hidden in suitcases. At that point, cocaine could be processed for $1,500/kilo in jungle labs and could be sold on the streets of America for as much as $50,000/kilo." (Brecher, 2002)

As more and more Colombians began to realize the potential of the drug, small "cartels," or drug selling organizations were set up to help process and distribute the drug for very cheap prices and then sell them here in the United States for very high profits. This, along with cocaine's popularity made it the number one most sold drug on the market between the 1970's and 80's. (Brecher, 2002) Cocaine's popularity has had both short-term and long-term effects on the overall drug market. I believe if cocaine hadn't gained so much popularity before all of the negative side effects were discovered, the drug may never have had such a marketable and profitable effect. However, because the distribution and usage of cocaine was able to continue for such a long period of time, it gained even more market strength and became one of the largest financial catalysts in the drug market in the United States.

Cocaine and the Brain

Another reason for the growth of cocaine's popularity on the drug market was because of the effect many artists, writers, and entertainers believed it had on their brain. Many artists were also turning to cocaine for creative reasons, because many of them believed it would help them in the creative process. Many artists believed there was a direct relation between their quality and amount of work and their cocaine intake. This is what Farrenkopf refers to as an individuals "compulsion to seek and take the drug." (Farrenkopf, 1) in other words, cocaine affects a part of the brain that seeks rewards and expects more of something of which it has gotten used to. As a result, cocaine's addictive nature among this community created a huge market for the drug. Even today, we constantly hear stories about the drug being used amongst artists and entertainers who have access to it and a desire to use it because of the benefits they may believe it has throughout the creative process.

Since the late 19th century there has been a huge market for cocaine because of its potency and addictive nature. These are two of the biggest contributing factors to the drug's… READ MORE

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