Medical Complications of Cocaine Abuse

Abstract

The earliest known use of cocaine, as suggested by the finding of coca leaves in the tombs of Indian mummies, was in 600 A.D.^{1 2 3} For centuries, the large population of Indians in Peru have chewed coca leaves. Although the first reported medicinal use of coca leaves was by a Spanish physician in 1596, it was not until 1855 that cocaine was isolated from the leaves. In 1884 Freud produced the first major report on the effects of cocaine.¹ Most of the cocaine that currently enters the United States comes from either Colombia or Peru. It is believed that about half . . .