[–] Helena73 ago 

Yeah bullshit. Coca wasnt commercially available until at least 1863, and that was Vin Mariani in south america. The alkaloid extract wasnt available until much later.

[–] israelmossadjewgold [S] ago 

That's not true. Cocaine was first isolated (extracted from coca leaves) in 1859 by German chemist Albert Niemann. Before that there were many concentrated tinctures that would have high cocaine content. It just would not have been pure cocaine. It would have the other coca alkaloids in it with cocaine.

[–] Helena73 1 point -1 points (+0|-1) ago 

It was isolated in 1855, and the processes was improved by Niemann in 1859 who published his process in 1860. But the first instance of a commercially available product was 1863 and is was not the pure alkaloid but a coca wine. Doctors were not using it significantly for another decade and then not widely— they didn’t even know what it did medically. It certainly wasn’t available otc in pharmacies in the US in 1860. Fucking ridiculous.