The spread of cocaine use among Americans during the early twentieth century began to attract the attention of the medical community and national leaders. Government officials decided to investigate the use of cocaine and learned that large numbers of citizens were buying cocaine not in the form of additives to foods, beverages, and medicines intended to treat specific medical conditions, but in its pure form for the pleasurable sensation the drug induced. Evidence that cocaine consumption might have slipped beyond the bounds of medical use caused alarm.

Declared Illegal

As cocaine use rose, hospitals began reporting an alarming increase of illness linked to the drug. In 1912, for example, five thousand deaths were directly or indirectly attributed to cocaine.

In 1914 the U.S. government responded by declaring cocaine a controlled substance, making its use illegal except when prescribed by a doctor...