Contemporary Legend – Monterray Park, California

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Monterrey Park, CA
Performance Date: April 2007
Primary Language: English

“Coca-cola used to be made with cocaine”

Origins

Kenneth heard this urban legend from friends during middle school (in Monterrey

Park).

Collector’s comments

When Kenneth told me this urban legend, I was not at all surprised since I had also heard this legend from peers while I was growing up in Chicago and Dallas. (apparently this legend has spread nationwide)

        After going through multiple websites that also discuss with legend, it seems clear that Coca-Cola did indeed use “small” amounts of cocaine a long time ago. According to Dr. Robert Q. Topper, “a government analysis of Coca-Cola in 1906 did not find any [cocaine].” Dr. Topper stated that in the late 19th century, Coca-Cola did indeed contain trace amounts of cocaine but eventually removed the ingredient after the public became concerned about the effects of cocaine. Currently, Coca-Cola “is still flavored with extracts from coca leaves” (Topper).
               Being a huge skeptic, I was quite shocked to find out that this old urban legend is true. Dr. Topper (whose article is published on a government website) states many facts about Coca-Cola that are in agreement with many other online sources (some of which are listed below).

Annotation: This urban legend can be found at: http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/cokelore.asp

Date of access: April 20, 2007

Other sources used for verification:

http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/cocaine.asp

http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/gen99/gen99644.htm