[Cocaine, in The Affair at the Victory Ball]

The Affair at the Victory Ball is a short story that depicts a murder case involving cocaine use and also portrays the symptoms of cocaine addiction. Cocaine was once used as an anesthetic for surgeries involving the eyes and nose and was even an ingredient in Coca-Cola in the late 19th century in the United States. As concerns about drug contamination increase in Japan, it is important to examine the content of the work and address the current scenario and risks associated with cocaine addiction. Furthermore, it is crucial to discuss the necessity of collaboration between medical institutions and government authorities in addressing this issue.

Intravenous Regional Anesthesia: A Historical Overview and Clinical Review

Intravenous regional anesthesia (IVRA) is an established, safe and simple technique, being applicable for various surgeries on the upper and lower limbs. In 1908, IVRA was first described by the Berlin surgeon August Bier, hence the name "Bier's Block". Although his technique was effective, it was cumbersome and fell into disuse when neuroaxial and percutaneous plexus blockades gained widespread popularity in the early 20^th century. In the 1960s, it became widespread, when the New Zealand anesthesiologist Charles McKinnon Holmes praised its use by means of new available local anesthetics. Today, IVRA is still popular in many countries being used in the emergency room, for outpatients and for high-risk patients with contraindications for general anesthesia. IVRA offers a favorable risk-benefit ratio, cost-effectiveness, sufficient muscle relaxation and a fast on- and offset. New upcoming methods for monitoring, specialized personnel and improved emergency equipment made IVRA even safer. Moreover, IVRA may be applied to treat complex regional pain syndromes. Prilocaine and lidocaine are considered as first-choice local anesthetics for IVRA. Also, various adjuvant drugs have been tested to augment the effect of IVRA, and to reduce post-deflation tourniquet pain. Since major adverse events are rare in IVRA, it is regarded as a very safe technique. Nevertheless, systemic neuro- and cardiotoxic side effects may be linked to an uncontrolled systemic flush-in of local anesthetics and must be avoided. This review gives a historical overview of more than 100 years of experience with IVRA and provides a current view of IVRA with relevant key facts for the daily clinical routine.

Cocaine and Achieving Rapid Pulpal Anesthesia Prior to Extirpation

Prior to the effective use of local anesthetics to achieve profound pulpal anesthesia before extirpation, whether in the form of a nerve block or infiltration, or in some cases the use of intrapulpal injections,^{1, 2} the clinician was faced with a challenge to ensure that the patient would be pain free during the procedure. In these cases the use of nitrous oxide and oxygen was common. Not so common was the use of cocaine or a solution of cocaine hydrochloride that was advocated to penetrate the dentinal tubules and create pulpal insensibility in the late 1800s.^{3, 4}.

The DARK Side of Total Synthesis: Strategies and Tactics in Psychoactive Drug Production

Humankind has used and abused psychoactive drugs for millennia. Formally, a psychoactive drug is any agent that alters cognition and mood. The term "psychotropic drug" is neutral and describes the entire class of substrates, licit and illicit, of interest to governmental drug policy. While these drugs are prescribed for issues ranging from pain management to anxiety, they are also used recreationally. In fact, the current opioid epidemic is the deadliest drug crisis in American history. While the topic is highly politicized with racial, gender, and socioeconomic elements, there is no denying the toll drug mis- and overuse is taking on this country. Overdose, fueled by opioids, is the leading cause of death for Americans under 50 years of age, killing ca. 64,000 people in 2016. From a chemistry standpoint, the question is in what ways, if any, did organic chemists contribute to this problem? In this targeted review, we provide brief historical accounts of the main classes of psychoactive drugs and discuss several foundational total syntheses that ultimately provide the groundwork for producing these molecules in academic, industrial, and clandestine settings.

[Cocaine: historical background, neurobiology of the addiction and relapse and therapeutic perspectives]

OBJECTIVE

Following more than a century of cocaine hydrochloride extraction from Erythroxylon coca, this drug remains representing a serious social and public health problema around the world. This paper intends to provide a review about the cocaine theme, focusing on historical background and on its different neurotransmission systems, as well as addresses therapeutics aspects about drug addiction.

METHOD

Electronic search in databases Medline, Pubmed and Lilacs was accomplished in order to select classics and recent studies relevant to the discussion of issue addressed.

DISCUSSION

Previous studies have shown high vulnerability to relapse to cocaine seeking following prolonged withdrawal periods. Such behavioral consequences have been cre-dited to induced changes in brain neurotransmitters provoked by repeated cocaine use. In recent years, the growing abuse of this drug has mobilized researchers worldwide in seeking for new therapies that reduce the behavioral and neurochemical changes resulting from addiction.

CONCLUSION

Numerous advances regarding the treatment of cocaine abuse and dependence have emerged in recent years. However, researche aiming at a safe and effective users' pharmacological treatment remain necessary and should be continued.

Degeneration and the origins of Mexico's war on drugs

In the early twentieth century, the concept of “degeneration” helped to turn “drugs” into a problem of national importance in Mexico. By invoking this concept, Mexico's sanitary authorities secured provisions in the Constitution of 1917 which specifically authorized a newly constituted Department of Public Sanitation to lead a nation-wide campaign against drug abuse. That Department then inaugurated Mexico's modern war on drugs when, in 1920, it declared a law governing the import and distribution of the opiates, cocaine, and marijuana nationwide. This essay examines the idea of degeneration and how it came to play this crucial role in the foundation of Mexico's modern war on drugs.

The curse of discovery: pioneers of dental and medical anesthesia

The current practice of dental local anesthesia remains founded upon drugs and techniques that were developed over 100 years ago. 2009 marks the 125th anniversary of the pioneering use of cocaine as a topical anesthetic and the introduction of nerve block injections in the oral cavity and facial region. Four famous clinicians are recognized in this article, each for their unique contributions to "modern" local anesthesia (Carl Köller, Sigmund Freud and William Halsted) and general anesthesia (Horace Wells), with the recognition of the adverse impact of drug dependence on their personal lives, which fortunately did not preclude their positively revolutionizing the practices of dentists and physicians and their patients every since.

Cocaine's history, especially the American experience

The history of cocaine in America can be traced to the late 19th century. After the discovery of its physiological and psychological effects, cocaine figured in consumables as diverse as hay fever remedies, local anaesthetics and soft drinks. The development of its different usages as well as eventual control of its use through restrictive legislation followed a different pattern in America from that in Europe. In the United States, national laws to control drugs faced constitutional obstacles until the era of World War I. Initially acclaimed as an ideal tonic, within two decades of its introduction in the mid 1880s cocaine was perceived as an extremely dangerous drug. By the 1930s cocaine had declined in use and in the 1960s, when it gradually emerged again, almost no public memory existed of the earlier 'epidemic'. Once again this substance evolved into a threatening and seductive hazard with some similarities to the earlier episode.

Drugs, consumption, and supply in Asia: the case of cocaine in colonial India, c. 1900 - c. 1930

This article examines the market for cocaine in India during the early twentieth century and the efforts of the colonial state to control it. The British authorities issued regulations to prohibit the drug's use as early as 1900, and yet by the start of World War I, cocaine's appeal had become socially diverse and geographically wide. This account of a significant market for a powerful new drug suggests that Indian society was able to rapidly develop a demand for such products even when the colonial state had no part in their introduction. Indians used these new products in complex ways- as medicines, as tonics, and as intoxicants, albeit through the localized medium of the everyday paan leaf. The study points to a reconsideration of a number of debates about the history of drugs and modern medicines in Asia.

The history of local anesthesia

For hundreds of years, mankind has struggled with the problem of controlling pain during surgical procedures without putting the patient to sleep. In 1884, cocaine was discovered to have local anesthetic properties and soon became widely used in many types of surgery. The many undesirable properties of cocaine led scientists to find a safer alternative. Since then, more effective local anesthetics have been and continue to be developed.

[The history of cocaine in medicine and its importance to the discovery of the different forms of anaesthesia]

The first description of the use of cocaine by humans can be found in the memoirs of the Florentine traveller Amerigo Vespucci (1451-1512). For the next 300 years mostly the advantages of cocaine use, also as a medication, were emphasized. In 1860 Albert Niemann (1834-1861) isolated an active ingredient of coca leaves, which he named cocaine. After his death, his work was carried on by his disciple Wilhelm Lossen (1838-1906), who finally, in 1865, determined its proper chemical formula. Although the first observations concerning the effect of cocaine on mucous membranes were made by Niemann and Lossen, the first experimental studies involving the application of cocaine to animals were performed by the Peruvian surgeon Moréno y Maïz. In 1880 Basil von Anrep (1852-1925) published the results of his studies concerning the application of cocaine to humans. In the conclusion of his work he recommended cocaine as a surgical anaesthesia. But it was finally Carl Koller (1857-1944) who, in 1884, empirically demonstrated the benefits of cocaine use in medicine, most of all in ophthalmology. Subsequently, within a couple of months, the medical world learnt about and got interested in the use of cocaine for local anaesthesia. William Stewart Halsted (1852-1922) and his collaborator Richard John Hall (1856-1897) began their own research on cocaine injections. Eventually they developed the nerve and regional blocking techniques. Nowadays, due to the potential harmful effects of cocaine and the risk of addiction, the indications for the use of cocaine as an anaesthetic are strictly limited.

Diverse trajectories of cocaine use through early adulthood among rebellious and socially conforming youth

This paper tests predictions of continuity and change in antisocial behavior over time as derived from population heterogeneity and life-course perspectives. These predictions are assessed with respect to a rarely studied form of delinquent/criminal behavior, cocaine use during the late-teenage and young adult years. We first examine the extent to which differential propensities toward antisocial behavior can be detected in a nationally representative sample of youth aged 14-16 in 1979. Based on self-reported delinquent and criminal activities in late adolescense, traditional cross-sectional latent-class analysis identifies three groups of antisocial/rebellious respondents and a group of non-offenders. We then follow these groups into early adulthood, examining age trajectories of cocaine usage between 1984 and 1998. Latent-class trajectory models identify clusters of respondents who show similar age trajectories of cocaine use over time and provide parameter estimates that predict membership in those clusters. In support of the population heterogeneity perspective, we find that antisocial/rebellious youth have higher probabilities of cocaine use throughout early adulthood than non-of-fending youth. There is, however, much variation in drug use patterns among the groups as they aged. In support of a life-course perspective, we find that social ties to schools, families, religion, and the labor market help differentiate youth who refrain from, maintain, or desist from using cocaine through early adulthood.

[Has introduction of cocaine helped in development of otorhinolaryngology?]

The problem of introduction of cocaine in medicine is presented first of all. The role of such physicians as Edmund Jelinek, Leopold von Schroetter, Karl Stoerck, Philipp Schech, Pierre Fauvel, Emanuel Zaufal, Wilhelm Kirchner, Samuel Meyerson and others on introduction of cocaine in otorhinolaryngology is depicted. The forms of this drug especially solutions and anxiety in their usage are shown. The attempts of use of cocaine into dentistry and into diseases of ear, nose, throat and larynx are described in more detail. The another drugs for local anaesthesia are depicted finally.

Pathophysiology of cocaine abuse

Cocaine abuse is increasing, particularly among young people. It is no longer a drug used exclusively by higher socio-economic groups. This review highlights the dangers of both acute and chronic cocaine abuse and its lethal potential even on the first encounter. The systemic effects of cocaine are described along with the possible pathology that may present itself to the attending clinician.

[Sherlock Holmes, Watson and cocaine. A literary contribution to the history of drug addiction]

From 1887 to 1927, Conan Doyle devoted fifty-six short stories and four novels to the extraordinary investigations of Sherlock Holmes. Special passages from these works, gathered here in the form of long extracts, evoke the passion of the celebrated detective for cocaine and constitute rather generally an original sort of evidence on the emergence of drug addicts in Europe at the end of the 19th century.

[The transition of the standards and the test-methods of cocain hydrochloride between JP I (1886) and JP XII (1991)]

In 1886, Japanese pharmacopoeia (JP.I) has been published as the 21st pharmacopoeia in the world, and now we have the twelfth revised Pharmacopoeia (JP.XII) published in 1991. During the period of about one century between JP.I and JP.XII, pharmaceutical science has shown remarkable progress in Japan as well as the U.S.A. and Europe. In this report, we have studied the transition of the standards and the test-methods of cocain hydrochloride between JP.I and JP.XII. The test-methods of cocain hydrochloride were gradually progressed. Since the World War II, JP.VI (1951) has been revised in wide range by adjusting into the U.S.A. XIV (1950) and then, many old tests have been eliminated and new tests have been regulated. For instance, optical-rotation test in JP.VI and assay in JP.VIII (1976) were good examples of how JP has been revised. Recently, many local-anaesthetic medicines have become very popular. So, the clinical market of cocain hydrochloride will not be so wide in the future in the Japanese medical field.

[Local anesthetics from ester to isomer]

The use of chemical substances to prevent or treat local pain had its origin in South America. It was known that central nervous system stimulation occurred among the natives of Peru who chewed the leaves of an indigenous plant (Erythroxylon coca). Circumoral numbness was believed to have occurred as a by-product of this custom. Attempts to isolate the active principle from these leaves finally resulted in the isolation of the alkaloid, cocaine, by Niemann in 1860. The clinical usefulness of cocaine was not appreciated until 1884, when Koller reported upon topical anesthesia of the eye. The chemical identification of cocaine as a benzoic acid ester led to the synthesis of numerous compounds which were basically benzoic ester derivates. In 1905, Einhorn reported the synthesis of procaine. Tetracaine, the most potent ester of the benzoic acid series appeared in 1930. A major breakthrough in the chemistry of local anesthetic agents occurred in 1943 when Loefgren synthesized lidocaine, since it was not an ester but an amide derivate of diethylamino acetic acid. Concerning structure-activity relationships, local anesthetic agents, in general, possess the chemical arrangement of: aromatic portion--intermediate chain--amine portion. Changes in the aromatic or amine portion of a local anesthetic substance will alter its lipid/water distribution coefficient and its protein-binding characteristics which, in turn, will markedly alter the anesthetic profile. The toxic effects of long-acting local anesthetics on brain and heart, firstly reported by Albright, provided the initial stimulus to develop new amide-type local anesthetics. The first of these drugs, which has come into clinical practice was ropivacaine, the S-enantiomer of two possible optical isomers. It is structurally related to bupivacaine and mepivacaine, exerting a different pharmacodynamic profile, specifically on cardiac electrophysiology (less arrhythmogenic than bupivacaine). Studies on the anesthetic activities and toxicity of the individual enantiomers of bupivacaine and mepivacaine generally indicate, that the S-enantiomers are longer-acting and less toxic than the R-enantiomers.

Drugs in prehistory: chemical analysis of ancient human hair

Concern about drug abuse in modern populations has led to the development of specific methods for identification of cocaine, opiates and cannabis in human hair. Drug use in prehistory can provide indirect evidence of interpopulational contact and social stratification. This paper reports drug evaluation in nineteen ancient hair samples from archaeological sites in northern Chile. Each sample was tested for the presence of traces of cocaine, opiates and cannabis, in order to establish a standard methodology for studies of drug use among prehistoric groups. Although results are negative, this absence of evidence could be due to two main causes: (1) the individuals evaluated did not use any drugs, which does not mean that other members of their cultural group did, or (2) the wide range of known drugs studied did not consider some group specific drugs, derived from local or imported plants, thus meaning that a greater drug range must be tested. In any case, our study confirms that drug testing in prehistoric samples is viable. However, in order to determine what kind of substances were used in prehistoric times new patterns that incorporate all drugs which are not part of the western pharmacopeia must be created. Finally, a methodology for the study of drug use among prehistoric groups using ancient hair samples is described.

Cocaine: history, use, abuse

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