Thread by @ErenVeziroglu

Few understand the far-reaching influence of cocaine on science and medicine, and it's greater cultural significance🧵 #cocaine #MedTwitter

William Halsted (1852-1922), father of modern surgery, introduced local anesthesia for dental procedures by injecting cocaine directly into nerve roots. Halsted also pioneered sterile surgical techniques and the radical mastectomy for breast cancer.

hopkinsmedicine.org/about/history/…

Halsted reportedly discovered cocaine's properties by self-experimentation. He brought European-style medical residency training to the American medical system and became known for working multi-day cocaine-fueled benders that underpin our inhuman work expectations.

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), father of psychoanalysis, described the beneficial effects of cocaine on mood and fatigue in his 1884 account "On Coca" including 50-100mg dosages that brought about cheerfulness, lightness, and warmth. The following are from translation by David Carter

In personal accounts by Freud, cocaine reduced fatiguability in physical exertion and increased self-control without feeling "under the influence." Freud described the feeling as "the absence of depressing elements in the general state of feeling."

Freud's experience with coca led him to hypothesize that physiologically normal human happiness results "from a well nourished cerebral cortex." Freud goes on to describe his experience of coca's effects on appetite, sleep and "strengthening one's ability for intellectual work."

Cocaine is extracted from the coca plant native to South America. Incans carried coca leaves with them, and chewed 3-4 oz daily, allowing them to perform strenuous tasks without eating, travel for hundreds of hours without rest, and tolerate extended fasts #Culture #medicine

The coca plant is thought to be a divine entity that endows strength, satisfies hunger, and allows users "to forget their bad fortune" in addition to other religious/ceremonial uses. #religion

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