The essay examines the cocaine trade within the context of Medellin's 20th-century history, exploring how and why a hierarchical and paternalistic social and political order was challenged and to some extent transformed by the advent of cocaine in the early 1970's. The essay argues that, in the course of confronting such a challenge, cultural practices, beliefs and values in Medellin were altered in fundamental and intimate ways. The chapter examines the early years of the cocaine trade; the demise of traditional values; cocaine as catalyst for class struggle; cocaine's lessons; and State repression. On the surface it is hard to discern the violent traces of cocaine in Medellin. The assassinations, homicides and urban terror of the city during the late 1980's and early 1990's have been replaced with an eerie calm, and Medellin is considered a very chic, exciting, and desirable place to live. However, cocaine still runs the show at the city's "in" nightclubs, and cocaine salesmen are regarded as heroes who "[know] how to create employment." Primary sources, notes