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Illicit drug use costs the United States approximately $181 billion every year.
More than 2,500 barbiturates have been synthesized. At the height of their popularity, about 50 were marketed for human use.
The calories found in one piece of cherry cheesecake could light a 60-watt light bulb for 1.5 hours.
Throughout history, plants containing cardiac steroids have been used as heart drugs and as poisons (e.g., in arrows used in combat), emetics, and diuretics.
It is believed that the Incas used anesthesia. Evidence supports the theory that shamans chewed cocoa leaves and drilled holes into the heads of patients (letting evil spirits escape), spitting into the wounds they made. The mixture of cocaine, saliva, and resin numbed the site enough to allow hours of drilling.