Cocaine
Botanical Origins
Cocaine is synthesized from the leaves of the coca plant. These plants grow in Bolivia, Peru, Columbia, Africa, Taiwan, Indonesia, and Formosa. The leaf contains between 0.5% and 1.5% cocaine and the processing methods extract pure cocaine from the leaves.
In the late 15th century, the Incan people thought coca leaves were direct gifts from the gods in order to help them through the brutal physical abuse of working long days and nights in the gold and silver mines at very high altitudes. These people used the leaves during their burial ceremonies and religious rituals; they were controlled as a very special blessing from supreme beings. By mixing the coca leaf with lime or ash, the chewers could "graze" for days - offsetting the effects of physical and mental exhaustion.
Invaders to the Incan and Andean cultures were divided over the "permitted" use of the coca leaves by these people. One faction held that these Indians should not use the leaves at all since it was an idolatrous barrier to Christianity while the second encouraged the leaf chewing because they could wring days of hard labor out of the Incans with very little time required for rest, food, or water.
The coca leaf arrived in Europe along with tea, coffee, and tobacco, through the travels of 16th century explorers, but remained largely unpopular until the 19th century. In 1863, Albert Niemann extracted purified cocaine from the coca leaf's crystalline powder and is credited with medical advances in anesthesiology during eye, nose, and throat surgeries as it constricted blood vessels, limited hemorrhaging, and immediate anesthesia.
Steeped infusions using the coca leaves are used for medicinal purposes such as elevation sickness, syncope, headache, and throat and stomach problems. Poultices contain coca leaves for treatment of rheumatism, bone fractures, and dislocations. These uses continue to this day among the mountain-dwelling Indians.
Social Uses
Cocaine was the chief ingredient in Coca-Cola, advertising...
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