At the beginning of the twentieth century, the medicine cabinets and pantries in many American homes held a variety of pills and foods containing cocaine as an ingredient. At the time, cocaine was considered to offer considerable benefits as an energy booster and as a topical remedy to relieve minor pain such as toothache. For example, in 1900, Sears, Roebuck, and Company advertised a product called Coca Wine. The advertisement for the wine boasted that it "sustains and refreshes both the body and brain. . . . It may be taken at any time with perfect safety . . . it has been effectually proven that in the same space of time more than double the amount of work could be undergone when Peruvian Wine of Coca was used, and positively no fatigue experienced."   At the turn of the last century, both the medical profession and...