Once considered a harmless source of pleasure and therapeutic benefit, today the drug cocaine is vilified as the cause of great misery and suffering for many who have succumbed to its euphoric effects. Yet, by nearly all acounts, cocaine is here to stay, despite the billions of dollars that government agencies around the [...]

At the beginning of the twentieth century, the medicine cabinets and pantries in many American homes held a variety of pills and foods containing cocaine as an ingredient. At the time, cocaine was considered to offer considerable benefits as an energy [...]

The use of coca changed somewhat when the Spanish conquistadors first came to South America during the mid-sixteenth century. After the Spanish conquered the mountain tribes they forcibly converted them to Catholicism; Catholic priests, wishing to stamp out what they saw as a pagan practice, forbade the chewing of coca leaves. The Spanish, however, also [...]

Meanwhile, researchers continued to investigate the new drug’s potential as a topical anesthetic. Doctors performing delicate operations on eyes discovered that cocaine numbed tissues, allowing them to perform surgery with only minor discomfort to the conscious patient, who could continue to move the eye as directed. The use of cocaine soon spread to [...]

In the decades since research began, doctors have come to recognize that of the body’s many systems, the cardiovascular system experiences the most noticeable short-term effects of cocaine use. The first of these is a rapid increase in the user’s heart rate, which results in the heart pumping a greater volume of blood through [...]

Researchers found little, if any, lingering effects from occasional use of cocaine. The long-term physiological effects for persistent cocaine use over many years are dramatic, however. Although the kidneys filter out cocaine after each use, the cumulative effect of hundreds of cocaine doses eventually alters the body’s physiology and leads to physical damage. The organ [...]

The debate over whether or not cocaine is addictive is ongoing and complicated. The majority of mental health professionals take the view that regular cocaine users cannot voluntarily stop taking the drug. In this sense, cocaine meets the definition of an addictive drug. Moreover, these experts believe that cocaine use leads to physical changes [...]

The spread of cocaine use among Americans during the early twentieth century began to attract the attention of the medical community and national leaders. Government officials decided to investigate the use of cocaine and learned that large numbers of citizens were [...]

After more than two decades of relative obscurity, cocaine re-emerged on the American drug scene in the early 1970s. Deterred by the obvious addictiveness and social stigma of drugs like heroin and the occasional “bad trip” associated with hallucinogens such as LSD, some Americans saw cocaine as a relatively harmless “recreational” drug. Its potential for [...]

The immediate psychological effect of cocaine ingestion is euphoria. The intensity of this effect depends on how fast the drug reaches the brain; that is, the faster cocaine reaches the brain, the more intense the euphoria. For the first few minutes after inhaling powdered cocaine, or the first few seconds after injecting it, the user [...]