Ah, the American Old West. Where the buffalo roamed, cowboys fought, and Coke still had cocaine. A LOT of things had cocaine. Only the most vigilant and educated physician or pharmacist could hope to keep harmful or useless drugs off their shelves. And if we can still find physicians prescribing ivermectin for COVID today, imagine how hard finding reliable information must have been back then. 

The story of Alexander Fleming is a popular one. As it should be - it’s a good story about one of the most important discoveries in medical history, penicillin. But most people only know the first act of the play.