Cocaine And Morphine Research Paper

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Cocaine and Morphine Cocaine and morphine are two illicit substances that have been constantly abused and evolving over the past 150 years in the United States and around the world. Cocaine was first synthesized in 1855 but was not recognized for its medicinal effects until 1880 (History of Cocaine). Cocaine got its first major endorsement from none other than Sigmund Freud who promoted it as a safe and useful tonic to help cure depression and impotence (History of Cocaine). In 1886 it was further popularized when John Pemberton marketed a new soft drink that would give you energy as well as produce a euphoric feeling; Coca-Cola. Up until the early 1900’s, when it was banned by the Dangerous Drug Act of 1920, cocaine was used in numerous…show more content…
First isolated in 1803, Morphine was discovered by German pharmacist F.W.A. Serturner. He named the Opium based drug Morpheus, after the god of dreams (Morphine Facts). Morphine began to grow in popularity and was being used for everything from pain relief to cough suppression and, ironically enough, to help cure Opium addiction. During the American Civil War, morphine was used frequently as a surgical anesthetic and would be sent home with soldiers as a pain reliever. This overuse of morphine caused over 400,000 soldiers to fall to “Army Disease”, Morphine addiction. Morphine was constantly abused, despite legislation making it illegal without a prescription, until Heroin was introduced (Morphine…show more content…
Crack is not a drug it is an epidemic; it has ruined millions of lives and will continue to do so until it is completely removed from out country. Cocaine, while not as highly addictive as crack, also has a steady if not rising demand in our country that will only subside if the supply is completely removed. It can be disputed whether or not morphine is more addictive than cocaine or crack but what cannot is which is more readily available in the streets. On the other hand, I see morphine use on the steady decline. Primarily, since morphine is a pharmaceutical drug, it is a much more difficult for people to come in contact with it. Recreational use of morphine is even diminishing today; the primary users are doctors or people with access to pharmaceuticals. Nevertheless, the demand for opiates is still very strong; heroin has replaced morphine as the most addictive opiate plaguing the world
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