Europeans Were Aware Of Cocaine Almost 200 Years Earlier Than Formerly Thought, Using This Stimulant As Early As The 17th Century, According To A Recent Study
Cocaine use in Europe was widespread by the 19th century, but a new study suggests that Europeans were aware of and took advantage of the substance’s stimulating effects as early as the 17th century.
Previous research has shown that people living in the western parts of South America have been chewing the leaves of the coca plant for thousands of years. It helped combat fatigue and relieve symptoms of altitude sickness. The coca plant grows in the Andean regions of northern and western South America.
In the 19th century, it was discovered that the leaves could be processed to make cocaine hydrochloride salts.
It was then that the drug’s medicinal properties and mind-altering effects became known and was used in many parts of Europe. Cocaine made its way into tonics, lozenges, anesthetics, and even popular consumer goods like Coca-Cola.
In a new study, a team of biomedical researchers and medicinal specialists from the University of Milan learned that people had been chewing the coca plant’s leaves for their chemical effects in at least one part of Europe almost 200 years earlier.
They found evidence of cocaine use in two individuals from the 1600s. They analyzed the preserved brains of two people who were found in a crypt in Milan, Italy. It was used as a burial site for those who died in Ospedale Maggiore, a well-known hospital located nearby at the time.
“During the 17th century, the Ospedale Maggiore was a pioneering hospital in Europe, specialized in the medical treatment of acute illnesses among impoverished and disadvantaged individuals residing in the city,” wrote the researchers. “The crypt of the church was intended as the place of burial of the deceased patients of the hospital for almost the entire 17th century.”
The researchers used advanced forensic techniques to identify chemical traces associated with the coca plant. The presence of these active components, called cocaine alkaloids, meant that the two people had been chewing the plant’s leaves to get high.
They also examined the pharmacological records of the Ospedale Maggiore and found no records of coca plants or cocaine being used for medicinal purposes.
Leckerstudio – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only
Furthermore, the nature of the two individuals’ burials suggested that they were poor laborers, which meant coca leaves must have been plentiful, cheap, and easy to obtain.
Together, the facts point to the conclusion that the coca leaves were used recreationally. Coca leaves were possibly sought after for their stimulant properties, much like how tobacco and coffee were used during the same period.
Overall, the findings have pushed back the timeline of drug use history in Europe and offered a glimpse into the global trade networks between Europe and the Americas during the early modern period.
The study was published in the Journal of Archaeological Science.
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