Coca-cola used to be made with cocaine
Origins
Kenneth heard this urban legend from friends during middle school (in Monterrey
Park).
Collectors 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: