The stimulants available to a north American of his time were wildly popular at the time in the british colonies and it’s difficult to imagine him not partaking in either of them. Thst said, they were coffee and tea, both of which remain legal here to this day, and we even scrapped the extra tax on tea.
Franklin died in 1790. Cocaine was first isolated in 1859 and it looks like coca wasn’t really available in the global north until around that time. That said, upon the arrival of cocaine, the USA put that shit in everything. We loved the stuff
I also forgot about mate because I’m a bad American and forgot about my continent’s native stimulants. Tobacco was common but not in the way it was in the 20th century. It was more tasted than inhaled.
But yeah I did a quick search and it looked like coca wasn’t widely traded with the anglosphere until the 19th century
The stimulants available to a north American of his time were wildly popular at the time in the british colonies and it’s difficult to imagine him not partaking in either of them. Thst said, they were coffee and tea, both of which remain legal here to this day, and we even scrapped the extra tax on tea.
Franklin died in 1790. Cocaine was first isolated in 1859 and it looks like coca wasn’t really available in the global north until around that time. That said, upon the arrival of cocaine, the USA put that shit in everything. We loved the stuff
Tobacco products were also very popular. Snuff being popular among rich people.
Coca was used as a drug (documented) in 1568.
Additionally laudanum and opium we’re also popular, but they aren’t stimulants afaik.
I also forgot about mate because I’m a bad American and forgot about my continent’s native stimulants. Tobacco was common but not in the way it was in the 20th century. It was more tasted than inhaled.
But yeah I did a quick search and it looked like coca wasn’t widely traded with the anglosphere until the 19th century