Coca

- VERMEULEN Frans, Coca
Coca leaves
Coca is an Andean tradition, while cocaine is a Western habit.
[Paz Zamora]
Signs
Erythroxylum coca. Erythroxylon coca. N.O. Erythroxylaceae.
CLASSIFICATION The Erythroxylaceae forms a family of tropical and subtropical trees and shrubs, comprising 4 genera and about 260 species. The largest genus is Erythroxylum; it contains about 250 species, which are native to tropical South America [centred in the Andes and the Amazon basin], Africa and Madagascar, and includes the important cocaine-producing coca plant. The family is a well-defined group closely allied to and often included in the family Linaceae.
USES Of the about 250 species, Erythroxylum coca and E. novogranatense are the only two that contain the alkaloid cocaine in considerable amounts. South American Indians chew coca leaves as a stimulant. The plant is cultivated in South America, Sri Lanka and Java for the cocaine. Other species are of local importance for their wood, bark dye, wood tar, essential oil or medicinal uses. Some species have red wood; hence the name of the genus, which derives from Gr. erythros, red, and xylon, wood.
FEATURES Dried coca seeds loose their germinative power within three days. Although the shrub doesn't place great demands on the soil, it thrives best in loose, loamy soils, whilst it won't thrive in soils rich in calcium. It requires shade, humidity and much rainfall [minimum of 2000 mm annually] and doesn't tolerate frost. The first leaves can be harvested 18 months after planting; shrubs remain productive for 20 to 30 years. During the rainy season the shrubs yield a crop every 50-60 days. If the leaves are not removed, the shrub grows into a real tree, the leaves of which do not contain significant amounts of cocaine. The fruit is a red berry which contains an oblong kernel.
Coca
CONSTITUENTS Cocaine; cuscohygrine and hygrine [tropane alkaloids]; essential oil; flavonoids [rutine, quercetin, iso-quercetin]; vitamins [A, B, C]; proteins; fat; tannins; minerals, in particular calcium and iron.
VARIETIES Although 'coca' is the Aymara word for tree, E. coca is actually a shrub of about four feet high. The plant is indigenous to moist and woody regions on the eastern slopes of the Andes, from 2000 to 10,000 feet above sea level. Coca leaves are derived from Erythroxylum coca [Lamarck], of which three varieties are recognised. Erythroxylum coca var. coca yields Bolivian or Huanaco coca and grows in the South American highlands. E. coca var. spruceanum [syn. E. truxillense Rusby] yields Truxillo or Peruvian and Java coca. Erythroxylum coca var. ipadu is widely cultivated in the western Amazon, esp. in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.
ORIGIN The ancient use of coca as a sacred psychoactive plant can be deduced from the legends from many of the tribes of the northwest Amazon concerning the supernatural and ancient origin of Erythroxylum coca. "The Tukanoan Indians of the Colombian Vaupés, for example, put the coca plant back into the very origin myths of the tribes. The Sun Father was a payé, a medicine man who originated the knowledge and power of modern payés. He had in his navel the powder of vihó, a narcotic snuff prepared from the bark-exudate of trees of the myristicaceous genus Virola. A daughter of the Master of Game Animals owned caapi, the hallucinogenic plant Banisteriopsis caapi. Pregnant and in great pain, she lay down. An old Indian woman, in an attempt to help, took hold of her hand. The pregnant young women broke her finger, but the elderly woman kept it and guarded it in the maloca or great roundhouse. A youth, however, stole it and planted it. The caapi vine grew from this finger. Another daughter of the Master of Game Animals, also pregnant and in intense pain, lay down. An old woman came to help, but this time the woman seized the girl's hand and broke off a finger. She buried it. The finger took root and grew into the first coca plant."1
CULTIVATION In the western Amazon cultivation almost always takes place in plots exclusively devoted to coca. "Planted at the beginning of the rainy season, the shrub grows sparsely - the stems becoming often completely covered with lichens - and does not yield a harvest of leaves for 18 months. From then on, however, an individual shrub may give leaves for 20 to 30 years. The coca plant is cultivated exclusively by men, as are other sacred plants such as caapi and tobacco, and usually only men harvest the leaves. It is interesting to note this difference in agricultural practices in the northwest Amazon: cassava - which is rarely if ever planted together with coca - is cultivated, cared for and harvested always by women; coca, never. Furthermore, coca is almost never planted near the maloca and in the proximity of cassava and other food plants; it is planted in small plots, usually quite removed from the maloca."2
HISTORY Coca chewing was practised throughout South America as early as 3000 BC In the 1400s coca plantations operated by Incas arise in Peru. In the 1500s first-hand accounts of coca use make their way back to Europe, the first being Vespucci in 1505. In the early 1500s Incan coca plantations are taken over by holders of Spanish land grants; Spanish tax laws are revised to allow land owners to make their tax payments in coca leaves. In the mid 1500s the coca production in Peru expands quickly; some twenty years later roughly 80% of the Europeans living in Peru are involved in the coca trade. In 1708 the Dutch physician and botanist Boerhaave is the first to mention coca in a materia medica. Mid 1800s coca tinctures are used in throat surgery; in 1859 cocaine is extracted from coca leaves by the German chemist Niemann. Introduced in the 1860s, Vin Mariani [Coca wine] is for sale throughout France; it contains 6 mg cocaine per ounce of wine. Between 1876 and 1885 the first cases of doping in sports occur: race walkers in England chew coca leaves to improve their performance. In 1884 Sigmund Freud publishes On Coca, in which he recommends the use of cocaine to treat a variety of conditions including morphine addiction. As a result of Freud's experiments with cocaine, his ophthalmologist colleague, Carl Koller, obtained supplies of the drug and discovered its local anaesthetic action. He showed that dropping cocaine into the eye could produce reversible corneal anaesthesia; within a few years cocaine anaesthesia was introduced into dentistry and general surgery. In the early 1880s the Atlanta pharmacist Pemberton introduces a tonic called 'Pemberton's French Wine of Coca: Ideal Nerve and Tonic Stimulant'. Based on Vin Mariani, but fortified with extracts of the kola nut, rich in caffeine, Pemberton claimed it to be an 'intellectual beverage and temperance drink'. When prohibition began in 1886, Pemberton removed the wine from the recipe and replaced it with sugar syrup. In 1906 concerns about the narcotic properties of cocaine led to the deletion of the coca extracts from the beverage, which by then was sold as Coca-Cola. At the end of the 19th century cigars and cigarettes made from coca leaves - named Peruvian tobacco - are smoked in England and in Philadelphia. In the beginning of the 20th century snorting cocaine becomes popular. In 1912 the U.S. government reports 5,000 cocaine related fatalities in one year, resulting in 1914 in prohibition of cocaine in the United States. 3
ANDEAN TRADITIONS "Historical record has shown that the coca plant, which has been cultivated since time immemorial, has always been omnipresent in the indigenous universe and that it has not only enriched their ancestral traditions but symbolized their vigorous resistance to colonial domination and subjection. ... Within the aboriginal peoples' way of life, the coca leaf is not a commodity in the Andean world nor does it possess any commodity value in social relations. The fundamental role of the shrub, with its mythological connotations, is as a nexus integrating and assuring the social cohesion of indigenous families and communities [ayllus]; throughout their lives it is present as a symbol of fraternity, solidarity, community spirit, mutual comprehension and reciprocal tolerance among the members of the vast empire of Tahuantinsuyo. Coca has also played and continues to play a role in mediating conflicts, as a factor of reconciliation towards peace and peaceful communal work and finally as a medium for transactions and deferred payment. ... In the Indian world view the coca leaf also acts as a natural nexus for the balance between nature and the people of the Andes; between labour - the barometer of their human dignity - and rational enjoyment of their natural resources. These peoples' harmonious development of a society which was the most advanced and best organized of its time is a source of inspiration today for all those struggling for the survival of the Earth and of its vegetable and animal diversity. Among the manifold social functions performed in traditional relations by coca, it inspires native hospitality and generosity. It is the Indian's companion, whether he is a miner or a labourer, from the cradle to the grave. At times of physical and moral exhaustion, despair and suffering, the small green leaves not only quell the pangs of hunger, sadness and suffering, but like a pick-me-up and a tonic they revitalize the Indians' resistance to the vicissitudes of time, to the hard labour on arid soils and the exploitation in mines, and provide them with comfort better to support their status as a vanquished people, discriminated against, exploited and affronted in their dignity."4
EFFECTS "In large doses, coca is said to cause delirium, hallucination, and finally cerebral congestion. In medium doses it acts as a stimulant, increasing the temperature of the body, as well as the respiration and frequency of the pulse; in a moderate dose it excites the nervous system in such a manner as to render the performance of muscular exertion much easier, and producing a sensation of calmness. According to Dr. Mantegazza, its use has produced an erythematous eruption resembling pityriasis, with a sense of prickling and itching; the intoxication produced by it, differs from that resulting from the use of alcoholic drinks, the symptoms being feverishness, increased heat of the surface, palpitation, photopsy, headache, vertigo, increased frequency of the pulse, a peculiar roaring tinnitus, strong desire for active locomotion, with increased sense of strength and agility, exaltation of the intellectual sphere, sense of isolation, followed by a feeling of intense calm and comfort, complete apathy, sleep, odd and rapidly changing dreams, and from which the patient awakes without debility or indisposition of any kind. The leaves of coca, chewed or taken in a weak infusion, stimulate the gastric nerves and greatly facilitate digestion; and are also useful in relieving the sense of fatigue from excessive mental or physical exercise. A dram of the leaves chewed produces a feeling of comfort in the stomach, and upon repeating the dose a few times, a slight burning sensation is experienced in the mouth and pharynx, with increased thirst, rapid digestion, and a substitution of the coca odour in the stools for that ordinarily present."5
NUTRITION "M. Moreno, who made some interesting experiments upon the effects of coca and cocaine, remarks, that coca gives much less arterial tension than coffee, as he has convinced himself with the aid of the sphygmograph. Relatively to its action, M. Weddell has observed: 'One of two things, either coca incloses some nutritive principles which directly sustain the forces, or else it simply deceives the hunger, by acting upon the economy as an excitant.' M. Moreno has submitted animals to an insufficient alimentation or to absolute inanition, and in these conditions he has observed that those to whom he administered coca lost more of their weight and died more speedily. He concludes that if coca sustains the forces, that is to say, permits man to forget hunger, it is not, however, as an aliment, and does not succeed in satisfying it. He has carefully studied the special action exerted by this substance upon the nervous system. According to him it determines [1] phenomena which place it with strychnine [tetanic and spontaneous convulsions, and, upon the least excitation of the animals, death]; [2] in a small dose, it provokes a remarkable excitation of sensibility, dilatation of the pupil, irregularity of the movements; the animals seem to have lost the coordinating power of their movements. Lastly, in large doses, it causes a diminution, followed by exhaustion, of sensation, without motility being completely abolished, and in all the cases, the pupils remain dilated. Like tea and coffee, coca lessens the elimination of urea, acting thereby indirectly as a food, though not a food in itself. That hunger is staved off by it is probably due to a benumbing effect upon the nervous supply of the stomach."6
Pöppig observed that the appetite of habitual coca-chewers becomes extremely irregular, "for the aversion to all food is often suddenly followed by an insatiable craving, esp. for animal food." However, in a study on the nutritional value of coca, Duke et al. could demonstrate that coca does supply numerous nutritionally valuable elements. Several doses of ground coca dust proved to contain a significant percentage of the daily requirements of vitamins and minerals. Later research has shown that the coca leaf contains more protein than meat and far more calcium than condensed milk, and that it is richer in vitamin B-1 than fresh carrots. This will not have surprised natives in areas where coca has traditionally been cultivated and used; for them coca is not a drug, but food. ["Coca no es un droga, es comida."]
ALLAYMENT According to King's American Dispensatory, the use of coca has been suggested to allay the thirst accompanying diabetes, to suppress the 'inordinate hunger of the insane and epileptics, and 'to control hunger, thirst, and fatigue for armies during long and forced marches.' Scudder thought it useful in 'the early stages of tuberculosis, by enabling the person to take the exercise so much needed to burn the imperfect materials in the blood.' It was customary during the times of the Incas to place a branch of coca in noblemen's graves to ensure that they would not be thirsty or hungry.
HABITUAL USE Mountaineers of the Peruvian Andes employ coca leaves habitually to lessen fatigue and to guard against the pulmonary haemorrhage likely to occur at high altitudes. The dried leaves are masticated with finely powdered lime, or with an alkaline substance prepared from potatoes and the ashes of various plants. The added alkaline substance releases the cocaine from the leaves so that it can be absorbed through the buccal mucous membrane. Coca enables its user to endure fatigue and exertion for many hours, even for several days, with but little nourishment of any other kind. "The habitual coca-chewer acquires a general apathetic state and his step becomes uncertain. Deep purplish circles surround big sunken eyes, his lips tremble, a peculiar blackish discolouration is observed at the angles of the mouth, the teeth become green and encrusted, and an intolerably offensive odour is imparted to the breath. Extreme emaciation, with intractable sleeplessness, and anasarca ensue and finally death completes the destruction."7 Colonizers attacked the use of coca as part of a process of cultural alienation, but opinions may differ amongst researchers. Evans Schultes, for example, writes that "it is noticeable that the Indians who use the largest amounts of coca powder, the Yukunas, seem to be the healthiest and most robust Indians of the Colombian Amazon." The English plant explorer, Richard Spruce, came to a similar conclusion. In 1865 he wrote: "I could never make out that the habitual use of ipadú had any ill results on the Rio Negro; but in Peru its excessive use is said to seriously injure the coats of the stomach, an effect probably owing to the lime taken along with it."
POWDER The use of coca in the northwest Amazon [lowlands] is restricted to males. Here no chewing is involved; instead, a mixture is used of pulverized toasted coca leaves and the ashes of the leaves of certain trees. Some of this finely sifted powder is put into the mouth and packed with the tongue between the gums and the cheeks after it has been moistened with saliva. The powder passes gradually into the stomach and is replenished with additional supplies, depending on the intensity of use. Many Indians keep the powder in the mouth throughout the day and consume large amounts. "Coca powder has an initial bitter taste which puckers up the mouth. The first noticeable effect is a slight anaesthetizing of the tongue and mouth; this is followed by a general stimulation. Its value in some of the energetic dance festivals of the numerous tribes, requiring the expenditure of enormous amounts of energy, is obviously important. Furthermore, this stimulating effect, often in place of food, on long hunting or canoe trips makes its use of great physical advantage. The stimulation and capacity for performance and endurance which coca affords the individual and its ability to suppress hunger pangs give the drug the role of an indispensable vademecum in the more or less itinerant life of deprivation which many Indians of the northwest Amazon must undergo."8
ISOLATION The Swiss naturalist Johann Jacob von Tschudi [1818-1889] reported on the general effects of coca as observed in "inveterate chewers, the so-called coqueros," which "are recognised at the first glance by their tottering gait; flaccid greyish-yellow skin; hollow, dull eyes, surrounded by bluish-brown circles; quivering lips; incoherent discourse and dull apathetic manner." His description of the coqueros is hardly different from that of modern drug addicts. "Their character is mistrustful, irresolute, malicious; they become aged when scarcely entered upon maturity; and should they attain old age there is imbecility. Timidity causes them to flee the society of their fellow-men, and seek concealment in gloomy woods or lonely dwellings, where they give themselves up for days together to the passionate enjoyment of the leaves. Then their excited imaginations conjure up the most wonderful visions, at one time consisting of incredibly beautiful and delightful forms, at another, however, of the most horrid figures. They crouch in a corner, with eyes staring and fixed on the ground, the automaton-like movement of the hand as it places the coca in the mouth, followed by the mechanical mastication, alone indicating that consciousness exists."9 Von Tschudi nonetheless was positive about the traditional use of coca: "I am clearly of the opinion that moderate use of coca is not merely innocuous, but that it may even be very conductive to health." The German physician Eduard Friedrich Pöppig [1798-1868], who travelled through Chile, Peru and on the Amazon river between 1827 and 1832, emphasizes the capricious disposition of the addicts, whose "passion for solitude is injurious." He says further: "As soon as a true coquero feels an irresistible desire for an intoxication, he withdraws to solitary darkness or to the woods. For the magic power of this herb can be fully felt only when the ordinary claims of life, or the distraction of associating with others occupying his mind, cease completely. ... The most hurried of travellers, his vocal impatience, or even a gathering storm cannot rouse an Indian from his unbearable apathy. ... If the coquero were accidentally found in such a condition in spite of his shy hiding and disturbed by being talked to, the course of the coca effect on him would be interrupted, and only half-intoxicated, he would hate the intruder."10 Both Pöppig and von Tschudi observed an actual withdrawal into isolation among inveterate coca chewers. The Italian neurologist Paolo Mantegazza, on the other hand, experienced "a peculiar sensation of isolation" after having taken 4 drams of an infusion of coca leaves. As source 22 in Allen's Encyclopedia, he is responsible for one of the key symptoms - sensation of isolation - of the drug picture of Coca. In Mantegazza's work such high praise is given to coca - "I prefer a life of ten years with coca to one of a hundred thousand without it" - that it especially inspired Sigmund Freud.
DIFFERENCES There are significant differences between the use of coca in the highlands and in the lowlands of South America. In the lowlands the plant is always vegetatively propagated by inserting small pieces of the stem in the wet soil. In the highlands the common propagation method is sowing; only fresh seeds will germinate. The nutritional value of coca powder [as used in the lowlands] seems much higher than that of the dried and entire coca leaves with an alkaline admixture in the highlands. All of the powder passes eventually to the stomach, whilst the leaves cannot be swallowed and are eventually ejected from the mouth. The habitual use of coca leaves has adverse consequences, whereas the habitual use of coca powder seems to have no ill effects whatsoever. A possible explanation is that coca plants grown at higher altitudes contain a higher percentage of the cocaine alkaloid than those grown at lower altitudes.
FREUD In 1859 cocaine was isolated for the first time. Medical researchers who were attracted to the new drug included the young Sigmund Freud. Freud wrote that he had the impression that "protracted use of coca can lead to a lasting improvement if the inhibitions manifested before it is taken are due only to physical causes or to exhaustion." He thought that there was "no danger of general damage to the body as is the case with the chronic use of morphine." Initially Freud himself took "very small doses of it regularly against depression and against indigestion, and with the most brilliant success," but he would later repudiate his findings. In On Coca, published in 1884, Freud describes his 'provings' with cocaine. "A few minutes after taking cocaine, one experiences a certain exhilaration and feeling of lightness. One feels a certain furriness on the lips and palate, followed by a feeling of warmth in the same areas; if one now drinks cold water, it feels warm on the lips and cold in the throat. On other occasions the predominant feeling is a rather pleasant coolness in the mouth and throat. During this first trial I experienced a short period of toxic effects, which did not recur in subsequent experiments. Breathing became slower and deeper and I felt tired and sleepy; I yawned frequently and felt somewhat dull. After a few minutes the actual cocaine euphoria began, introduced by repeated cooling eructation. Immediately after taking the cocaine I noticed a slight slackening of the pulse and later a moderate increase. I have observed the same physical signs of the effect of cocaine in others, mostly people my own age. The most constant symptom proved to be the repeated cooling eructation. This is often accompanied by a rumbling which must originate from high up in the intestine; two of the people I observed, who said they were able to recognize movements in their stomachs, declared emphatically that they had repeatedly detected such movements. Often, at the outset of the cocaine effect, the subjects alleged that they experienced an intense feeling of heat in the head. I noticed this in myself as well in the course of some later experiments, but on other occasions it was absent. In only two cases did coca give rise to dizziness. On the whole the toxic effects of coca are of short duration, and much less intense than those produced by effective doses of quinine or salicylate of soda; they seem to become even weaker after repeated use of cocaine."11
COCAINE USE "Cocaine's short-term effects appear soon after a single dose and disappear within a few minutes or hours. Taken in small amounts [up to 100 mg], cocaine usually makes the user feel euphoric, energetic, talkative, and mentally alert - especially to the sensations of sight, sound, and touch. It can also temporarily dispel the need for food and sleep. Paradoxically, it can make some people feel contemplative, anxious, or even panic-stricken. Some people find that the drug helps them perform simple physical and intellectual tasks more quickly; others experience just the opposite effect. Physical symptoms include accelerated heartbeat and breathing, and higher blood pressure and body temperature. Large amounts [several hundred milligrams or more] intensify users''high', but may also lead to bizarre, erratic, and violent behaviour. These users may experience tremors, vertigo, muscle twitches, paranoia, or, with repeated doses, a toxic reaction closely resembling amphetamine poisoning. Physical symptoms may include chest pain, nausea, blurred vision, fever, muscle spasms, convulsions, and coma. Death from a cocaine overdose can occur from convulsions, heart failure, or the depression of vital brain centres controlling respiration. With repeated administration over time, users experience the drug's long-term effects. Euphoria is gradually displaced by restlessness, extreme excitability, insomnia, and paranoia - and eventually hallucinations and delusions. These conditions, clinically identical to amphetamine psychosis and very similar to paranoid schizophrenia, disappear rapidly in most cases after cocaine use is ended. While many of the physical effects of heavy continuous use are essentially the same as those of short-term use, the heavy user may also suffer from mood swings, paranoia, loss of interest in sex, weight loss, and insomnia.... The initial resurgence of cocaine use in the 1960s was largely confined to the affluent, for it was at that time quite expensive. Part of the drug's mystique was its association with celebrities in the music, sports, and show business worlds. Today, people from all walks of life use cocaine. Young single people are the most frequent users, with male users outnumbering female users two to one. There are no clear connections between cocaine use and education, occupation, or socio-economic status."12 Cocaine use often is part of night time social activities.
PHARMACOLOGY Cocaine can cause keratoconjunctivitis, contact dermatitis of the eyelids, and dermatitis of the fingers in dentists. It also has local anaesthetic properties. "It has a marked psychomotor effect, causing euphoria, garrulousness, increased motor activity and a magnification of pleasure, similar to the effects of amphetamine. These effects are due mainly to inhibition of neuronal dopamine reuptake, though cocaine also inhibits noradrenaline and 5-HT-reuptake. Cocaine has less tendency than amphetamine to produce stereotypes behaviour, delusions, hallucinations and paranoia. With excessive dosage, tremors and convulsions, followed by respiratory and vasomotor depression, may occur. The peripheral sympathomimetic actions lead to tachycardia, vasoconstriction and an increase in blood pressure. Body temperature may increase, owing to the increased motor activity coupled with reduced heat loss. Like amphetamine, cocaine produces no clear-cut physical dependence syndrome, but tends to cause depression and dysphoria, coupled with craving for the drug. Withdrawal of cocaine after administration for a few days causes a marked deterioration of motor performance and learned behaviour, which are restored by resuming dosage with the drug. There is thus a considerable degree of psychological dependence."13
TOXICOLOGY "Toxic effects occur commonly in cocaine abusers. The main acute dangers are cardiac dysrhythmias and coronary or cerebral thrombosis. Slowly developing damage to the myocardium can also occur, leading to heart failure, even in the absence of acute cardiac effects. Cocaine can severely impair brain development in utero. The brain size is significantly reduced in babies exposed to cocaine in pregnancy, and the incidence of neurological and limb malformations is also increased. The incidence of ischaemic and haemorrhagic brain lesions, and of sudden death, is also higher in cocaine-exposed babies."14
SHERLOCK HOLMES The British physician and novelist Sir Arthur Conan Doyle allowed his famous hero, the redoubtable Sherlock Holmes, to take drugs in The Sign of Four, thus increasing his attraction for the Victorian middle class, who loved to flirt secretly with such vices. Sherlock Holmes explains his use of cocaine as follows: "I suppose that its influence is physically a bad one. I find it, however, so transcendingly stimulating and clarifying to the mind that its secondary action is a matter of small amount." In A Scandal in Bohemia [published in 1891], Dr John Watson, Holmes' faithful and loyal companion, places Holmes' cocaine habit in the context of his personality: "... while Holmes, who loathed every form of society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature."
ART Many poets, writers and artists have been influenced or inspired by coca. Vin Mariani, a sweet wine fortified with coca, provided fuel for the artistic aspirations of such novelists as Alexandre Dumas, Henrik Ibsen, Anatole France, Octave Mirabeau, and, particularly, Jules Verne and H.G. Wells, who both more or less 'lived' on Coca wine and produced their best works under its influence. The French composers Charles Gounod [1818-1893] and Jules Massenet [1842-1912] freely gratified their craving for the 'miraculous wine' and praised it as a 'blessed creator'. Louis Blériot, the first man to fly across the English Channel, took a bottle of the stimulating wine with him on the flight. Inventors such as Thomas Edison and the Lumière brothers [who invented the cinema] were regular drinkers of Vin Mariani. Opera singers to relieve sore throats, an occupational hazard, used both Vin Mariani and cocaine. Robert Louis Stevenson [1850-1894] wrote his famous novel The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde in 6 days and nights in October 1885, with the help of the magical cocaine. Stevenson took the cocaine on doctor's orders for a chronic catarrh. Cocaine, probably, was also the inspiration for the unnamed 'white powder' that causes sudden personality changes. Richard Strauss [1864-1949] composed two arias of his opera Arabella under the influence of cocaine. Many pop musicians got inspired by cocaine as well; i.e. Country Joe McDonald [Cocaine], Black Sabbath [Snowblind], Little Feat [Sailing Shoes], Rolling Stones [Let it bleed], Jackson Browne [Cocaine], Dillinger [Cocaine], David Bowie [Ziggie Stardust], Grateful Dead [Truckin']. 15
PROVINGS •• [1] Clothar Müller - 6 male provers, 1853-56; method: chewing of leaves; 5-60 drops of tincture; 10-65 drops of 1x dil.; 5-10 drops of 2x dil.
•• [2] Stokes - self-experimentation, 1857; daily dose of 10 drops of tincture for 5 days.
•• [3] Hering [collection of provings] - 10 provers [8 males, 2 females], 1867-69; method: tincture, strong infusions, 3c, 21c, 30c, and CM.
[1-2] Schultes and Raffauf, The Healing Forest. [3] Vaults of Erowid [website]. [4] Burrows, Coca: An Andean Cultural Tradition; The Fourth World Documentation Project. [5-7] King's American Dispensatory. [8] Schultes and Raffauf, ibid. [9] cited in Hughes, Cyclopaedia. [10] cited in Von Bibra, Plant Intoxicants. [11] Freud, On Coca. [12] Alcoholism and Drug Addiction Research Foundation, Toronto, Canada; Jan. 1991. [13-14] Rang et al., Pharmacology. [15] Rätsch, Enzyklopädie der psychoaktiven Pflanzen.
Affinity
NERVES [BRAIN; respiration; heart]. Muscles.
Modalities
Worse: Ascending. High altitude. Cold. Mental exertion.
Better: Rapid motion in open air. After sunset. Wine. Riding. After dinner. High altitude.
Main symptoms
M RISING.
High expectations; high standards; high social positions.
• "The feeling is: I only deserve to live if I fulfil the high expectations. There is the ability to activate enormous strength to do so, and in order to do so the feelings have to be numbed and the inner self is switched off. The result is a feeling of total isolation."1
• "She said: 'I don't have a right to live if I don't work and produce the best results.' And: 'I need the challenge, otherwise my energy runs down strongly, and I start feeling depressed and then I have no energy for anything.' She compensates her sadness by working intensely. ... 'In my family everyone is very talented [above average] in nearly every field. I myself have very high expectations of my own performance; I fulfil them as well as I can in order to get love. I have much power and strength.'"2
• "Like Cannabis, Coca too is a loner in a palace, but he is also one who is expected to perform. He is an isolated genius. It is very difficult for him to make communication or establish connections with other people. But his intellect works overtime, all the time stimulated, excited, reaching great heights. ... The need to perform and reach great heights, the need to achieve extraordinary things make of Coca a good remedy for mountain climbers. Fear of heights and fear of falling are naturally accompanying symptoms." [Sankaran]
c During the times of the Incas, the use of coca was exclusively the privilege of members of the royal family, noblemen, and priests. Propagation or cultivation of coca on a large scale was not permitted.
M FALLING.
Fear of letting things fall.
• "When lifting anything, fear lest I should let it fall, in the morning." [Allen]
Fear of falling when walking.
• "Giddy and weary; involuntary quick stepping when walking, head inclined forward with fear of falling." [Hughes]
Fear of downward motion.
Fear of flying in aeroplanes.
M Extreme BASHFUL TIMIDITY; withdrawal from society.
• "Delights in solitude and obscurity." [Lippe]
• "Wants to be alone in the dark." [Hale]
• "Ill at ease in society." [Hering]
• "In all my cases of Coca up to now you don't detect the bashfulness directly, it is that strong that it is perfectly covered up. It is hidden behind the well performed social role they play in life and even behind the extravagant or excited behaviour they can show. In addition to this, the person is hardly ever aware of it himself because of the 'switch-off-mechanism' of any kind of feelings in himself, so he won't tell. It only comes out in phrases like 'I can't even look in a person's eyes', or 'I would never join a sauna' or they feel more comfortable when wearing sunglasses because then they don't feel so vulnerable and it allows a bit more freedom in contact, or 'by complete coincidence' they are always the ones with their eyes closed on pictures."3
M Sensation of isolation from the outer world.
• "On any one speaking to him, it seems as if the person were at a great distance." [Hale]
• "When he crosses the place in front of the church it seems as if he doesn't realise there are people around who greet him; he just passes by. ... Or at lunch time, when everyone is sitting at the table, he is there but at the same time he is not there. As a result the kids only talk to me instead of asking him things."4
• "Sometimes I feel that I have to integrate myself into society, I can't stay outside any longer, but on the other hand I like to be on the streets, to be the mirror of the people's behaviour when doing the pantomimes, to be an artist outside the usual rules of society. Something poetic, a gypsy-like nature belongs to me and could not stay alive in regular society patterns. ... So here the theme of isolation comes in a different way. She isolates herself from society by being an artist who needs the freedom from general rules."5
• "... while Holmes, who loathed every form of society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature."6
M Mental prostration alternating with brightness.
G UNUSUAL VIGOUR.
• "After this digestion, aptitude for work and power of muscles became extraordinarily good, and continued so. He took no more medicine; but sleep continued full of active troubled dreams, notwithstanding which he awoke lively and vigorous every morning, for about 10 days afterwards, when effects of proving faded." [Hughes]
• "Dr. G.W. Pope on several occasions took strong decoction, or chewed and swallowed a handful of leaves. Either was followed by a total disinclination to eat or sleep for 12-24 hours according to quantity taken. If taken in afternoon, he would pass the night in reading and writing, and felt no fatigue in morning." [Hughes]
• "After taking 3 troy ounces of the leaves there occurred a febrile state with elevated temperature of skin, palpitation of heart, vision of sparks, headache and vertigo. Pulse rose from 70 to 134, peculiar rushing noise in ears, desire for open air, expansion of sphere of vision, a peculiar indescribable feeling of increased strength, agility and desire for work, which soon gave place to an exaltation like that caused by alcohol. But though thus mentally excited he could write with fluency and regularity. When he had taken 4 drams there came a peculiar feeling of isolation from the outer world, and great inclination to do feats of strength, so that though in his normal state he carefully avoided anything like gymnastic exercises, he now leaped up on his desk with cat-like agility without upsetting anything on the desk. There then came a kind of rigidity, but with a feeling of blissful comfort, the consciousness remaining perfect, and he felt a great wish to pass the whole day without so much as a finger. Then he slept and had a succession of grotesque dreams lasting all day without leaving any feeling of weakness or dysphoria." [Hughes]
• "Ease in breathing, and feeling of freshness and vigour of the whole body, with great pleasure in walking quickly and far, notwithstanding the great heat and great power of the sun, in the forenoon." [Hale]
• "The Indians who imbibe too much remain in a kind of ecstasy, from which it is very dangerous to arouse them, but with which they continue working like machines."7
c Physical and mental vigour keeps increasing, till finally the overworked nerves are shattered, and exhaustion follows.
EXHAUSTION.
• "Generally called for persons who are wearing out under the physical and mental strain of a busy life, and who suffer from exhausted nerves and brain [Fl-ac., Kali-p., Nux-v.]." [Allen]
• "Remarkable aversion to exertion of any kind in consequence of nervous exhaustion."
• "Feeling of anguish increased with failure of every effort to strive against the weariness; torment only diminishes with perfect rest." [Hering]
G Very little need for nourishment.
Irregular appetite.
Sudden voracious appetite - speedy satiety.
G Very little need for sleep.
• "Sleeplessness, but with desire for work the whole night."
• "Am incessantly turning about in bed; uneasy when lying on either side. Sometimes am afraid of losing my balance, and fancy myself carried off into space. I get up and walk the room with great strides; feel as if I could run for a long time. Am conscious all over of an indefinable buoyancy and flexibility. In an quarter of an hour, these feelings are usually succeeded by heaviness of the head, drowsiness, and desire for rest and quiet. I fully agree with Rossier's statement, that what is lacking at this stage, is not the ability to move, but the inclination." [Hughes]
Or: Extreme sleepiness, can scarcely keep the eyes open.
• "Great drowsiness, overslept about two hours beyond the usual time."
• "Much more drowsy, apt to doze when sitting, and reading, or studying the Materia Medica at night, which is always a delightful occupation, keeping him awake generally till after 2 a.m. " [Hughes]
G Awakes with a shock in the brain.
G ASCENDING HIGH < or >.
• "The MOUNTAINEER's remedy. Useful in a variety of complaints incidental to mountain climbing, such as palpitation, dyspnoea, anxiety and insomnia." [Lippe]
Bad effects from mountain climbing or ballooning.
• "ALTITUDE SICKNESS, almost a specific for this problem, esp. where the respiratory power is depressed." [Morrison]
Or: Feels better in the mountains.
G Inflammation of nerves.
G Ailments of OLD PEOPLE.
P Visual disturbances.
Flashing before eyes like distant lightning.
White spots before eyes, so that on reading the book seems mottled white.
Bright serpentine lines before eyes.
Threads floating up and down before eyes.
Black specks flying before eyes.
Fiery points / sparks passing downwards before eyes.
Diplopia.
Great photophobia, with dilated pupils.
P Dyspepsia.
• "It has symptoms closely resembling the dyspepsia and cardialgia caused by abuse of tea and coffee; it may be worth a trial in such cases." [Hale]
Eructations after drinking coffee.
P Want of breath in those engaged in athletic sports. [Allen]
P Crawling numbness; like a worm under skin [Calc.], ceases when touched.
• "Abnormal sensations in the peripheral nerves cause the patient to believe there are animals under his skin. The result is frequently self-mutilation, and by a false application of subjective impressions, the mutilation of members of his family, in order to remove the foreign substance from the body. A woman injured herself with needles in order to kill the 'cocaine bugs'. A man who suffered from twinges and pains in the arms and feet thought he was forcibly electrocuted. He thought he could see electric wires leading to his body."8
[1-5] Hein, The mountaineer's remedy: Two cases of Erythroxylon coca; HL 4/97. [6] Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, A Scandal in Bohemia [short story]. [7] Back to the Incas, article in Homoeopathy, November 1971. [8] Lewin, Phantastica.
Rubrics
Mind
Desires activity [1]. Anticipation, stage fright [2]. Anxiety, from pressure on chest [1]. Buoyancy [1A]. Cheerful, before menses [1]. Confusion > coffee [1], > washing face [1]. Delusions, as to greatness of body [2]; is a great person [2]; he is separated from the world [1]; he was carried into space, while lying [1; Cann-i.; Lach.]; of hearing unpleasant voices about himself [1/1]. Desire for grandeur [1; Cur.; Sulph.]. Forgetful, of words while speaking [1]. Indifference, to his personal appearance [1; Sulph.]. Industrious, at night [1/1]. Laughing, everything seems ludricous [1]. Weakness of memory, for expressing oneself [2]. Wants to be quiet [1]. Desires reading and writing [1H]. Sadness, after exertion [2]. Time passes too quickly, appears shorter [1]. Washing, always washing her hands [1].
Vertigo
When ascending stairs [1]. When bending head forward in writing [1A]. With tendency to fall to right side [1H]. Lying on face > [2/1]. Occipital [1A].
Head
Constriction, forehead, as from a band [2]. Fulness, occiput, > lying on face [2/1]. Pain, > during eating [1], > after eating [1], > walking in open air [1H]; dull frontal headache > sunset [1A]; in lowest part of occiput, when yawning [1A].
Vision
Sparks, before headache [1].
Ear
Pain, pressing outward, as if tympanum were pressed outward by the sounds, on reading aloud [1/1H].
Hearing
Sounds seem distant [1]; voices seem distant [1].
Nose
Hayfever [1*].
Mouth
Taste, butter tastes like herring [1A]; water tastes burnt [1A].
Throat
Sensation of swelling on swallowing [1A].
Stomach
Sensation of emptiness, after rising [1/1], after walking [1]. Eructations, after coffee [2]; painful, forcible, as if oesophagus would split [1/1].
Rectum
Flatus, offensive, like spoiled eggs [1H].
Male
Sensation as if penis were absent [2/1].
Female
Menses, in gushes, at night waking her from sleep [1A].
Cough
Paroxysmal, walking in hot sun [1/1], walking in cool wind [1/1].
Chest
Palpitation, from prolonged mental exertion [1/1].
Limbs
Motion, great agility [1].
Dreams
Activity [1*]. Hurry [1]. Teeth falling out [1].
Generals
Darkness > [1]. Short sleep > [1A]. Weakness, > wine [1H].
* Repertory additions: [A] Allen, [H] Hughes.
Food
Aversion: [1]: Meat [A]; solid food.
Desire: [2]: Alcohol. [1]: Brandy; coffee; meat; sweets; tobacco.
Worse: [2]: Salt. [1]: Cocoa [abdominal colic]; coffee [abdominal colic].
Better: [1]: Coffee [> confusion]; cold beer [> colic]; wine [> vertigo, headache, weakness].

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