Cocaine Abuse in Pregnancy: An Evolution from Panacea to Pandemonium

摘要

Cocaine is an alkaloid derived from the leaves of the Erythroxylon coca plant, and is available as either a hydrochloride or as freebase crack cocaine. While cocaine has an unfavorable public image as an addictive substance, this drug has also had an illustrious history as a medicinal panacea. Coca utilization antedates the Incan civilization by at least five centuries according to archeological evidence, but its origin is most commonly affiliated with the empire which comprised what is now Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Columbia during the 1 lth century BCE. The plant was believed to be of divine origin and had varied applications during this epoch: as a folk remedy for a multitude of bodily ailments, to an analgesic for trephination (a crude form of neurosurgery).