The Candy Machine

Last week I read The Candy Machine : How Cocaine Took Over the World by Tom Feiling. Very good read on how the world of Cocaine works and operates. How the US government with their War on Drugs appears to make things worse rather than better, always preferring to focus on the Supply rather than the Demand side of things; rather spending 1 billion USD to bomb the coca fields than a tenth of that on social efforts in the USA to reduce consumption. Anyway, there's always a market for politicians offering simple solutions to complex issues. Lots of parallels to the time of prohibition of alcohol in the USA in the 1930ies: a policy which lead to the rise of widespread smuggling of alcohol, black bars, ultra-rich gangsters, and lots of violent crime.

A chapter in the book which really caught my attention dealt with the history of Cocaine (and to an extent even Heroin) consumption. Apparently these drugs once upon a time (like a century ago) were a relatively common and legal phenomenon in our western societies. Interesting.

Found some interesting pictures on this subject. How do you like this bottle of Heroin by Bayer, or the ad where Bayer on the one hand advertises Aspirin, and on the other advertises Heroin, as The Sedative for Coughs?