In this chapter and the next, we will look at all different kinds of drugs ranging from caffeine to crack and cocaine. Most drugs that will be discussed in this chapter exists for hundreds or even thousands of years. The use of drugs became alarming up till 2000. Since that year, the use of drugs by teenagers is stable. There is even a little decline and the decline of alcohol and tobacco use is bigger. Only the trend of marijuana use is an increasing one.Drug schedule refers to the potential for abuse of a drug and this has been described by the Controlled Substance Act in 1970. Schedule I drugs do have less potential for abuse than schedules II to V. Cocaine is extracted from the coca plant, which grows in the mountains of South America. People used to chew on the leaves of this plant, because it produced feelings of confidence. Nowadays, cocaine is most exported as cocaine sulphate or cocaine hydrochloride. Cocaine compounds are extracted by crushing the leaves in a solution (such as kerosene, gasoline or alcohol). The liquid mixture that remains is processed under heat with sulfuric acid to isolate the cocaine alkaloids and to remove the waxy residues. The cocaine sulphate paste that remains contains about 60% cocaine and is then further processed into a water-soluble crystal composition called cocaine hydrochloride.In South America, many of the waste products that originate during the extraction process of cocaine are dumped in the river. This has very harmful ecological consequences. Cocaine alkaloid was first isolated in 1855 by Friedrich Gaedcke, he called it erythroxyline . Albert Niemann then called it cocaine. It was used as a local anesthetic, especially in eye and nose operations. It was also added to many drinks, given the...