How did people manufacture (especially dry and extract cocaine into a fine powder) in the old days, around the time of the early 1900’s? Roughly how did they determine the average size, where were the major “places to score” some at, and was it always known as a rich whiteman’s drug? Thanks.
No. In the early 1900’s you could be pretty much any drug over the counter without a prescription. But you wouldn’t have needed to. You could have gone to the soda fountain and ordered a Coca Cola. That’s where the name comes from.
There was a program about illicit drugs on The History Channel a couple months ago.
Far from being a rich, white man’s drug, cocaine was a common ingredient in myriad tonics, patent medicines, and assorted snake oil cures that were available to, and used by, a vast cross section of the population during the late 1800’s - early 1900’s.
During that period, cocaine was more often a component, not the stand alone “powdered” product we know today. While I don’t know specifically when powdered cocaine became the norm, or preferred method of ingestion, I can tell you that the process of producing powdered cocaine requires little skill, and only a few commonly available chemicals. It was well within the capabilities of late 19th and early 20th century folk.