Book review
An Anatomy of Addiction—
Sigmund Freud, William
Halsted, and the Miracle
Drug Cocaine
By Howard Markel
Pantheon Books, New York, 2011
Reviewed by
M. Saleem Seyal, MD, FACC, FACP
“If you wanna hang out you’ve got to take her out; cocaine.
If you wanna get down, down on the ground; cocaine.
She don’t lie, she don’t lie, she don’t lie; cocaine.
If you got bad news, you wanna kick them blues; cocaine.
When your day is done and you wanna run; cocaine.
She don’t lie, she don’t lie, she don’t lie; cocaine.
If your thing is gone and you wanna ride on; cocaine.
Don’t forget this fact, you can’t get it back; cocaine.
She don’t lie, she don’t lie, she don’t lie; cocaine.
She don’t lie, she don’t lie, she don’t lie
Lyrics of Eric Clapton’s song “Cocaine” (1977)—written by JJ Cale
“Cocaine” which satirized the “virtues” of a deadly and highly
addictive drug is a popular song released in 1977 by Eric Clapton,
a highly gifted British guitarist and a recovering alcohol and heroin
addict. He would later suggest that because of its “ambiguous message” and “with study and reflection” it was in fact “quite cleverly
an anti-cocaine” song. Stevie Nicks of the famous Fleetwood Mac
band wrote and produced the enduring song “Gold Dust Woman”
in 1977 with lyrics and mysterious innuendos alluding to the use
of cocaine.
For millennia, coca leaves of the venerated plant Erythroxylum
coca have been habitually chewed by the Peruvian Indians (conqueros) to ward off fatigue, curb appetite and improve endurance. In
1863, a savvy French chemist/entrepreneur, Angelo Mariani, mixed
coca leaves with Bordeaux wine and came up with a concoction
which he packaged, promoted and distributed as Vin Mariani, the
second-most popular coca-based beverage in history. He marketed
the beverage with abandon, skill and utterly misplaced convictions
with his colorful pamphlets declaring, “It nourishes, fortifies, refreshes, aids digestion, strengthens the system…. It is unequaled
as a tonic, it is a stimulant for the fatigued and overworked body
and brain, it prevents malaria, influenza and wasting diseases.”
As the gullible public and prominent personalities lapped up the
refreshing beverage, Angelo became the first cocaine millionaire.
In Fulton County, Georgia, in 1886, with alcohol prohibition laws
in full force, a civil war veteran John Stith Pemberton concocted a
legal beverage with coca leaves, kola nuts in syrup and soda water
called Coca Cola, first served in Atlanta at the Jacob’s pharmacy
soda fountain. Within a year, Pemberton sold the recipe to Asa
Griggs Candler who incorporated the Coca Cola Company in 1892
and rest, as they say, is history. A 1905 advertisement for Coca Cola
declared, “To refresh the parched throat, to invigorate the fatigued
body, and quicken the tired brain.”
To solve the mystery of this sublime substance trapped in the coca
leaves, considerable chemistry research was undertaken in the late
19th century and eventually, in 1860, a highly purified coca alkaloid
was isolated. Cocaine as a medicinal agent became available through
many pharmaceutical companies, but Parke-Davis of Detroit proved
to be the most aggressive promoter of this amazing blockbuster
drug. With easy availability, many lay people and healthcare workers experimented with the drug for recreational purposes, as an
analgesic, local anesthetic, initially quite oblivious to and possibly
ignorant of its powerful addictive properties.
(continued on page 32)
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