Cocaine: An Unauthorized Biography

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Cocaine: An Unauthorized Biography
Cocaine An Unauthorized Biography.jpg
Author Dominic Streatfeild
CountryUnited Kingdom
Published2002
PublisherDiane Publishing Company
Pages510 pp
ISBN 0-312-28624-4
Preceded bySilk Route by Rail (1997) 

Cocaine: An Unauthorized Biography ( ISBN   0312286244) is a 2002 non-fiction book about the history of cocaine, written by Dominic Streatfeild and published by Diane Publishing Company. The 2003 paperback edition ( ISBN   0-312-42226-1) was published by Picador. The book investigates cocaine from the chewing of the coca leaf to the large scale trafficking of cocaine into the United States. [1] [2]

Streatfeild goes into lucid detail about the history that the coca leaf had with the Native Americans and their Spanish overlords. [3] He also investigates the life and impact of the world's most famous cocaine addict, Sigmund Freud. Written with sobering statistics and personal humor, Streatfeild travels to a number of locations, including to New York, indigenous areas of South America, and ultimately to Colombia to meet with the Ochoa family. Prior to his trip to Colombia, is unable to obtain life-insurance, and proceeds without it. [4] [5]

Within the book, the author interviews some of the most notorious figures directly involved in the distribution of Cocaine including George Jung, [6] whose life story was depicted in the 2001 film Blow and "Freeway" Ricky Ross, [7] the man attributed with the explosion of Cocaine use in California in the 1980s.

Related Research Articles

Cocaine Tropane alkaloid and stimulant drug

Cocaine is a stimulant drug obtained from the leaves of two Coca species native to South America, Erythroxylum coca and Erythroxylum novogranatense. After extraction from coca leaves and further processing into cocaine hydrochloride, the drug may be snorted, heated until sublimated and then inhaled, or dissolved and injected into a vein. Cocaine stimulates the reward pathway in the brain. Mental effects may include an intense feeling of happiness, sexual arousal, loss of contact with reality, or agitation. Physical effects may include a fast heart rate, sweating, and dilated pupils. High doses can result in high blood pressure or high body temperature. Effects begin within seconds to minutes of use and last between five and ninety minutes. As cocaine also has numbing and blood vessel constriction properties, it is occasionally used during surgery on the throat or inside of the nose to control pain, bleeding, and vocal cord spasm.

Coca Group of plant varieties cultivated for coca production

Coca is any of the four cultivated plants in the family Erythroxylaceae, native to western South America. Coca is known worldwide for its psychoactive alkaloid, cocaine.

John Stith Pemberton American pharmacist, inventor of Coca-Cola (1831–1888)

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Coca-Cola formula The Coca-Cola Companys secret recipe for Coca-Cola syrup

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George Jung American drug trafficker and smuggler (1942–2021)

George Jacob Jung, nicknamed Boston George and El Americano, was an American drug trafficker and smuggler. He was a major figure in the United States cocaine trade during the 1970s and early 1980s. Jung and his partner Carlos Lehder smuggled cocaine into the United States for the Colombian Medellín Cartel. Jung was sentenced to 70 years in prison in 1994 on conspiracy charges, but was released in 2014. Jung was portrayed by Johnny Depp in the biopic Blow (2001).

Carlos Lehder Colombian drug trafficker

Carlos Enrique Lehder Rivas is a German-Colombian former drug lord who was co-founder of the Medellín Cartel. He was released from prison in the United States after 33 years in 2020. Born in Armenia, Colombia, Lehder eventually ran a cocaine transport empire on Norman's Cay island, 210 miles (340 km) off the Florida coast in the central Bahamas.

War on drugs Campaign of drug prohibition led by the American federal government

The war on drugs is a global campaign, led by the U.S. federal government, of drug prohibition, military aid, and military intervention, with the aim of reducing the illegal drug trade in the United States. The initiative includes a set of drug policies that are intended to discourage the production, distribution, and consumption of psychoactive drugs that the participating governments and the UN have made illegal. The term was popularized by the media shortly after a press conference given on June 18, 1971, by President Richard Nixon—the day after publication of a special message from President Nixon to the Congress on Drug Abuse Prevention and Control—during which he declared drug abuse "public enemy number one". That message to the Congress included text about devoting more federal resources to the "prevention of new addicts, and the rehabilitation of those who are addicted" but that part did not receive the same public attention as the term "war on drugs". Two years prior to this, Nixon had formally declared a "war on drugs" that would be directed toward eradication, interdiction, and incarceration. In 2015, the Drug Policy Alliance, which advocates for an end to the War on Drugs, estimated that the United States spends $51 billion annually on these initiatives, and in 2021, after 50 years of the drug war, others have estimated that the US has spent a cumulative $1 trillion on it.

Coca paste is a crude extract of the coca leaf which contains 40% to 91% cocaine freebase along with companion coca alkaloids and varying quantities of benzoic acid, methanol, and kerosene. In South America, coca paste, also known as cocaine base and, therefore, often confused with cocaine sulfate in North America, is relatively inexpensive and is widely used by low-income populations. The coca paste is smoked in tobacco or cannabis cigarettes and use has become widespread in several Latin American countries. Traditionally, coca paste has been relatively abundant in South American countries such as Colombia where it is processed into cocaine hydrochloride for distribution to the rest of the world. The caustic reactions associated with the local application of coca paste prevents its use by oral, intranasal, mucosal, intramuscular, intravenous or subcutaneous routes. Coca paste can only be smoked when combined with a combustible material such as tobacco or cannabis.

Cocaine is a naturally occurring organic compound, an alkaloid, present in the leaves of the coca plant.

Deborah Ellis

Deborah Ellis is a Canadian fiction-writer and activist. Her themes are often concerned with the sufferings of persecuted children in the Third World.

"Freeway" Rick Ross American former drug trafficker

Ricky Donnell "Freeway Rick" Ross is an American author and convicted drug trafficker best known for the drug empire he established in Los Angeles, California, in the early to mid 1980s. He was sentenced to life in prison, though the sentence was shortened on appeal and Ross was released in 2009.

Hélmer Herrera Colombian drug trafficker

Francisco Hélmer Herrera Buitrago also known as "Pacho" and "H7", was a Colombian drug trafficker, fourth in command in the Cali Cartel, and believed to be the son of Benjamín Herrera Zuleta.

Roberto Suárez Gómez Bolivian drug trafficker

Roberto Suárez Gómez, also known as the King of Cocaine, was a Bolivian drug lord and trafficker who played a major role in the expansion of cocaine trafficking in Bolivia. In his prime, Suárez made $400 million annually, was one of the major suppliers of the Medellín Cartel as well as the leader of the largest Bolivian drug empire, and was considered to be the biggest cocaine producer in the world.

Rick Ross American rapper

William Leonard Roberts II, known professionally as Rick Ross, is an American rapper.

A drug lord, drug baron, kingpin or narcotrafficker is a high ranking crime boss who controls a sizable network of people involved in the illegal drug trade. Such figures are often difficult to bring to justice, as they are normally not directly in possession of something illegal, but are insulated from the actual trade in drugs by several layers of staff. The prosecution of drug lords is therefore usually the result of carefully planned infiltration into their networks, often using informants from within the organizations.

Illegal drug trade in Latin America

The illegal drug trade in Latin America concerns primarily the production and sale of cocaine and cannabis, including the export of these banned substances to the United States and Europe. The Coca cultivation is concentrated in the Andes of South America, particularly in Colombia, Peru and Bolivia; this is the world's only source region for coca.

<i>Brainwash: The Secret History of Mind Control</i> Book by Dominic Streatfeild

Brainwash: The Secret History of Mind Control (ISBN 0-340-83161-8) is a 2006 non-fiction book published by Hodder & Stoughton about the evolution of mind control from its origins in the Cold War through to today's War on Terror. The author, Dominic Streatfeild, uses formerly classified documentation and interviews from the CIA, U.S. Army, MI5, MI6 and British Intelligence Corps to investigate the methods intended to destroy and reconstruct the minds of captives, to extract information and convert dissidents. Brainwash is Streatfeild's second book, following on from his 2002 book, Cocaine: An Unauthorised Biography.

Dominic Streatfeild is an author, freelance journalist and documentary maker based in the UK who specialises in military and security issues.

Waldemar Franklin Quintero Colombian police officer

Colonel Valdemar Franklin Quintero was the commander of the Colombian National Police in Antioquia Province. Franklin had led several major raids which resulted in the seizure of multiple tons of cocaine. He was murdered by the Medellín cartel in Medellín because of these drug seizures and his refusal to talk with the cartel. He successfully thwarted an attempt to kill Luis Carlos Galán, a Colombian journalist and presidential candidate, when an RPG was launched at Galán. The cartel formally took responsibility for the slaying of the police commander by calling a series of local radio stations. The caller, who identified himself as a person from "The Extraditables", said "We, the Extraditables, claim responsibility for the murder of Col. Valdemar Franklin in response to the repression committed and the government's refusal to have a dialogue with us". Pablo Escobar, a major Colombian drug lord, had allegedly ordered the murder of Franklin on the day of the death of Luis Carlos Galán.

Unauthorized biography Biography written without the subjects permission or input

An unauthorized biography is a biography written without the subject's permission or input. The term is usually restricted to biographies written within the subject's lifetime or shortly after their death; as such, it is not applied to biographies of historical figures written long after their deaths.

References

  1. Richard Rudgley, "The World of Caffeine by Bennett Weinberg and Bonnie Bealer and other books", New Scientist, 30 June 2001.
  2. Cocaine: An Unauthorised Biography Drugnety Europe 34 EMCDDA
  3. Christian Parenti, "Dominic Streatfeild, Cocaine: An Unauthorized Biography (St. Martin's Press, 2002).", White Line Highway,
  4. Dominic Streatfeild, "Cocaine: An Unauthorised Biography". "Dominic Streatfeild : » Cocaine: An Unauthorised Biography". Archived from the original on 8 November 2010. Retrieved 14 September 2010.
  5. Vince Kueter, "Adventurous look at world of 'Cocaine'", Seattle Times, 21 July 2002. http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=20020721
  6. Dominic Streatfeild, "Source Material: Interview with George Jung", 21 June 2000, Federal Correctional Institute, Otisville. "Dominic Streatfeild : » Interview with George Jung". Archived from the original on 14 October 2013. Retrieved 30 April 2014.
  7. Dominic Streatfeild, "Source Material: Interview with Ricky Ross", 30 June 2000, Metropolitan Correctional Center in San Diego, California. "Dominic Streatfeild : » Interview with 'Freeway' Ricky Ross". Archived from the original on 9 July 2011. Retrieved 5 November 2010.