Medical Complications of Cocaine Abuse

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 . . .