Introduction
The second half of the 19th century saw the acceleration of scientific advancement in many fields, with botany and chemistry combining to develop new methods of isolating organic compounds found in plants. This led to a series of new drugs, narcotics, to be developed during this time. Perhaps the most historically volatile of these was cocaine, which was first synthesized from the coca plant in 1855 by German chemist Friedrich Gaedcke. Coca leaves were chewed by indigenous Andean peoples for centuries as a stimulant and appetite suppressant, which continued after the Spanish conquest. The early Spanish colonial regime was wary of this behavior, but approved of its ability to boost productivity; Philip II formally endorsed its cultivation with the caveat that any perceived psychoactive effects were “a delusion of the Devil” (Schatzman, Morton, Andrea Sabbadini, and Laura Forti, 1976). Nineteenth-century access to refined cocaine in Europe and the U.S. was highly limited as coca leaf shipments dried out in their journey from the Andes, losing much of their potency, until Detroit-based pharmaceutical company Park, Davis & Co. established local refinement labs in South America around 1880 (Spillane, 2000). By then, it was clear to Western science that the relatively new drug cocaine had potential, most notably being championed by psychiatrist Sigmund Freud. While cocaine’s success within the medical establishment would ultimately be as a topical anesthetic, which enabled localized surgery, its introduction through psychiatry and neurology would have far reaching effects.