Alcoholism is the primary chemical causing addictive disease in our country.
It is responsible for thousands of fatalities each year, but there is another drug that is having a profound effect both on how we think about chemical dependency and on addictions medicine. The drug is cocaine. Cocaine was first isolated from the South American cocoa leaf, as its most active alkaloid, in the 1880's by Albert Niemann. From the beginning cocaine has been a controversial drug. Coca-Cola's original Coke was marketed as a patent medicine and contained cocaine.