ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author proposes a reading of Sigmund Freud's Cocaine Papers as the beginning of the Freudian adventure. One of the first objects of Freud's interest was the drug cocaine. It seems reasonable to assume that Freud's relationship to the drug cocaine could be one of the areas of research that might open the door to an understanding of his discovery of the unconscious, the nature of the object in psychoanalysis and, possibly, the virtual exclusion of the problem of addiction from this field of research. The properties of cocaine, which initially attracted Freud to the drug, were its ability to increase the capacity to work, to allow people to do without food for long periods, and to increase physical strength. Cocaine had an optimum effect when the condition was poor and its effect was less when the condition was normal.
