SERIES: DRUGS UNCOVERED: THE FACTS: COCAINE

There are more than 250 varieties of the coca plant, but only
three are widely used in the illegal cocaine drug trade. They are
Huanuco coca, which is grown in Bolivia and Peru, Amazonian coca,
grown in the Amazon River basin, and Colombian coca, grown primarily
in Colombia.

It is estimated that almost all banknotes in circulation in
Britain are contaminated with cocaine (to around a billionth of a gram
per note), according to the Bristol-based company Mass Spec
Analytical, which surveyed nearly 50,000 UK notes.

Snorting powder cocaine (cocaine hydrochloride) causes massive
amounts of dopamine to flood the brain, and increases serotonin
levels, delivering a euphoric 'high', coupled with a massive boost in
confidence. It also nullifies the effects of pain, hunger and fatigue,
raises body temperature, causes the pupils to dilate and makes the
heart beat faster.

The average 'high' from snorting powder cocaine kicks in after
about two minutes and hits its peak after 15, before fading 20-30
minutes later.

The Incas saw coca as a 'gift from the gods', and used it in
sacred rituals. The empire's only method of communication was a chain
of messengers who would walk hundreds of miles over mountainous
terrain; the royal emperors would ply them with coca so that they
could go for days without food or sleep.

Ernest Shackleton took the 'Forced March' brand of cocaine tablets
to Antarctica in 1909, as did Captain Scott a year later.

Coca-Cola, John Pemberton's coca wine developed in 1886, contained
the equivalent of a small line of cocaine in each bottle. The company
banished all trace of the cocaine alkaloid in 1903. However, to this
day, Coca-Cola is flavoured with a non-narcotic extract of coca leaves.