the.com/cocaine
A powerful stimulant whose intense euphoria has driven many people into dangerous addiction.
means A powerfully addictive stimulant drug extracted from coca leaves, prized and abused for the intense, short-lived euphoria and confidence it produces.
from From coca, the Andean shrub whose leaves have been chewed for their mild stimulant effect for centuries, plus the chemical suffix -ine used for alkaloids (as in morphine or caffeine). European chemists isolated the active compound from coca leaves in the 1800s and named it accordingly — the leaf gave its name to the drug, and the drug's reputation then swallowed the leaf's quieter history whole.
- origin
- coca leaf, chewed safely by andeans for millennia
- half-life
- roughly one hour, hence the chasing
- economics
- cheap to grow, taxed heavily by cartels and prohibition
- myth
- confidence it grants is entirely borrowed, with brutal interest