ABSTRACT

Cocaine is an alkaloid found in Erythroxylon coca, which grows principally in the northern Andes in South America, and to a lesser extent in India, Africa, and Java (1). The drug has been used for its stimulant properties for over 2000 years. In clinical medicine, cocaine is used mainly for local anesthesia and vasoconstriction in nasal surgery, and to dilate pupils in ophthalmology. Sigmund Freud famously proposed its use to treat depression and alcohol dependence, but the realities of cocaine addiction quickly brought this idea to an end. Cocaine abuse is ’rmly entrenched in the drug culture in the United States and remains one of the most commonly used illicit drugs (2). According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, the rate of past-year use for cocaine (powder and crack combined) among individuals aged 12 and older has remained relatively stable since 2002; there were 1.6 million current users of cocaine in 2009 (3).