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Cocaine Was Used as a Local Anesthetic

It still is used for medicinal purposes, even today.

By Bethany TiamatPublished 3 years ago 4 min read
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Photo by Simon Schwyter on Unsplash

Cocaine, the very illicit drug, has not always been outlawed. The stimulating drug has actually been in use for a very long time, and still serves medicinal purposes. Although it has gotten a bad rap as a street drug reserved for those who needed a little “bolt”, cocaine was actually originally, and still is, used as a local anesthetic.

What is a local anesthetic?

Local anesthetics are medicines that most people encounter in their lifetime. When you go to the dentists, for instance, and they numb you but don't put you to sleep, you are using a local anesthetic. Local anesthetics are medicines that numb certain parts of your body, but you remain fully conscious. General anesthesia are medicines that put you to sleep, and if need be, can put you in a coma or accidentally cause death if used in excess. If you have ever had to get stitches and the doctor gave you a shot of numbing medication, that was a local anesthetic as well. Epidurals during baby deliveries are another example of local anesthetics. They work only where they are supposed to, yet the mom is completely conscious and aware of what is going on. She just can’t feel anything below the injection site. e.

Today, physicians use the likes of lidocaine, procaine, bupivacaine, to name a few. What you may notice is they all have the ending of -caine. This is because of the original local anesthetic.

The original local anesthetic

The coca plant is a South American plant and the origin of cocaine. Indigenous populations have chewed on it for centuries, noting that it gave them this exhilarating feeling afterwards. This plant was also used in religious ceremonies, especially by the Incas.

In the 1860s, German chemist Albert Nieman isolated a white powdery substance from the coca plants. When he placed it on his tongue, he realized that it made his tongue numb. Angelo Mariani, a French chemist, mixed cocaine and Bordeaux wine, calling it a Vin Mariani. He advertised it as a tonic that had restorative powers.

It wasn’t until two decades later, however, that cocaine was first experimented with as a local anesthetic. Dr. Carl Koller, an ophthalmologist wanted to see if cocaine could assist with cataract surgery, for which there was no relief for patients. In fact, throughout most of the surgery, patients were in excruciating pain. He noticed that with cocaine, the surface of the eye was numb and there was no blink or flinch response after contact with the eyeball.

After discovering this, pharmaceutical companies began selling and marketing the use of cocaine as a local anesthetic. What they did not know at the time is how addictive cocaine actually was. Sigmond Freud, pioneer developmental psychologist, even wrote about the great uses of cocaine, but seemed to leave out his long struggle with addiction. When he was 28 years old, he even wrote a paper titled “Uber Coca” in which he describes it as a “song of praise to this magical substance”.

It took 12 years for Freud to break his habit, and the medical community also quickly realized the limitations and problems with cocaine. Many patients died during surgery due to accidental overdose. Cocaine is a stimulant, so it can overstimulate your body, causing heart attacks, arrhythmias, strokes, seizures, and more.

How did Coca-Cola get its name?

But, all of these side effects did not stop one of the most dominant beverage companies of our time from using it in their formula. John Stith Pemberton mixed cocaine and a sugary syrup and developed what is now known as Coca-Cola. Originally, it was only available out of a fountain in richer neighborhoods. However, it soon was bottled and sold, making it more accessible to the general populations. In 1903, almost 20 years after its creation, Coca-Cola removed cocaine from its recipe.

The Cocaine Ban

This probably had something to do with the increasing regulations and legislation against the powdery white substance. In 1914, legislator Francis Burton Harrison, of New York City, introduced a bill that outlawed the sale and use of cocaine and other opium drugs. He was able to successfully do that by playing on White fears of the made up “Negro cocaine feind”. This myth convinced White voters that by having cocaine out on the streets, it would be abused by Black people who would become more violent and savage while on the drug. The Harrison Narcotic Act was one of the first legislative bills geared towards drug regulation and criminalization.

Current medicinal uses

Modifications to the Harrison Narcotic Act have allowed cocaine to be used for very specific purposes. Cocaine is currently used as a topical anesthetic, especially in otolaryngology surgery because no other drug has anesthetic and vasoconstricting (constriction of blood vessels) properties like cocaine. If physicians are uncomfortable with cocaine, then they can also use related products, i.e. lidocaine, which can produce the same effect.

Cocaine can also be used in upper respiratory tract infections. In addition to its ability to vasoconstrict and anesthetize, cocaine can also cause bronchoconstriction and shrink the mucosa membrane. Because this drug is readily absorbed in the mucosal linings of the mouth and nose, it is often used as a topical numbing agent for those areas. It can even stop nosebleeds and can dilate the eye for surgery.

Coke, the multidimensional drug:

Cocaine has gotten a bad name and is often associated with abuse. Because of it’s addictive qualities, most often, when there is a problem with coke, it is because of a drug abuse problem. However, there are legitimate uses, and when regulated correctly, it can be very beneficial to patients. Cocaine has a long and rich history, but its uses as a great anesthetic are undefeated.

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About the Creator

Bethany Tiamat

I love three things: books with yellowed pages, long walks on beaches with my german shepard Dany, and dishes incorporating fried onions.

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