According to snopes.com, Coca-Cola did at one time contain small amounts of cocaine. It was a natural part of the coca leaf extract that gave the product its name, not anything that was intentionally added. Almost since the beginning the Coca-Cola company tried very hard to remove all traces of cocaine, using the available technology. Coke finally became completely cocaine-free in 1929. Here is the snopes.com article: http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/cocaine.asp I also checked the Coca-Cola website, www.coca-cola.com, but there's no mention at all of cocaine, even in the "Myths and Rumors" or "Coke Lore" sections. But the fact remains that coca leaf extract is an ingredient of Coke, and that coca leaf extract does contain traces of cocaine, and that there was no way to completely remove all traces of cocaine from it until 1929.

I'll just add a little to EJ's answer, which matches my understanding as far as it goes. I have had occasion to tour the CocaCola museum in Atlanta, and they have a little to say about it there. They naturally pretty emphatically downplay the cocaine content angle, and assert that their processing of the coca never produced a high grade or level of cocaine, but that it did contribute considerably to a higher level of caffiene, and that was the source of the buzz that people attribute to cocaine. The story is that at one point, the FDA or some such agency decided that caffiene content above a certain level would cause a product to be classed as a medicine. CocaCola decided that they would prefer to market their product as a beverage, and lowered the caffeine content. That, they say, is the change that people attribute to the elimination of cocaine, which was never really there. I'll leave it to others to judge the level of revisionism here.

Yes. The original formula did contain a trace of cocaine, as did many other elixirs of the late 19th century. They were not made controlled substances until the 20th century.

g'day Crumb Eye, Thank you for your question. Yes it did. However, it was a mere trace until it was finally removed in 1929. According to Snopes, it was 1/400 of a grain which would not be enough to get hooked. http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/cocaine.asp Regards

Yes. "Use of stimulants in formula When launched Coca-Cola's two key ingredients were cocaine (benzoylmethyl ecgonine) and caffeine. The cocaine was derived from the coca leaf and the caffeine from kola nuts — Coca-Cola (the 'K' in Kola was replaced with a C for marketing purposes). Coca — Cocaine: Pemberton called for five ounces of coca leaf per gallon of syrup, a significant dose, whereas, in 1891, Candler claimed his formula (altered extensively from Pemberton's original) contained only a tenth of this amount. Coca-Cola did once contain an estimated nine milligrams of cocaine per glass, but in 1903 it was removed. Coca-Cola still contains coca flavoring. After 1904, Coca-Cola started using, instead of fresh leaves, "spent" leaves — the leftovers of the cocaine-extraction process with cocaine trace levels left over at a molecular level. To this day, Coca-Cola uses as an ingredient a cocaine-free coca leaf extract prepared at a Stepan Company plant in Maywood, New Jersey. In the United States, Stepan Company is the only manufacturing plant authorized by the Federal Government to import and process the coca plant. Stepan laboratory in Maywood, New Jersey, is the nation's only legal commercial importer of coca leaves, which it obtains mainly from Peru and, to a lesser extent, Bolivia. Besides producing the coca flavoring agent for Coca-Cola, Stepan Company extracts cocaine from the coca leaves, which it sells to Mallinckrodt, a St. Louis, Missouri pharmaceutical manufacturer that is the only company in the United States licensed to purify cocaine for medicinal use. N.J. Stepan buys about 100 metric tons of dried Peruvian coca leaves each year, said Marco Castillo, spokesman for Peru's state-owned National Coca Co. Kola Nuts — Caffeine: Kola nuts act as a flavoring in Coca-Cola, but are also the beverage's source of caffeine. In Britain, for example, the ingredient label states "Flavourings (Including Caffeine)". Kola nuts contain about 2 to 3.5 percent caffeine, are of bitter flavor and are commonly used in cola soft drinks. In 1911 The U.S. government initiated United States v. Forty Barrels and Twenty Kegs of Coca-Cola, hoping to force Coca-Cola to remove caffeine from its formula. The case was decided in favor of Coca-Cola. Subsequently, in 1912 the U.S. Pure Food and Drug Act was amended, adding caffeine to the list of "habit-forming" and "deleterious" substances which must be listed on a product's label. Coca-Cola contains 34 mg/12 fl oz of caffeine, while Diet Coke Caffeine-Free contains 0 mg. Caffeine may be used by athletes as ergogenic aid - to increasing the capacity for mental or physical labor. The ergogenic qualities of caffeine are contested, although there is strong evidence that it may significantly enhance endurance performance. For this reason, caffeine is listed as a restricted substance by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Nevertheless Coca-Cola was the leading sponsor of the 1996 summer Olympic games." Source and further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca_cola#Use_of_stimulants_in_formula

I have read that it did not cnotain cocaine even back then see this; http://www.squidoo.com/oldnews

Yeah coca cola did have a very small amount of cocaine in it way back when.

Hmm. I knew they were hiding something from us in our "History of the drug war" class.