Cocaine

Cocaine is an alkaloid extracted from coca leaves, which has been used in medicine for its analgesic and anesthetic properties. Cocaine dependency is an addiction to this narcotic. The relation between cocaine and psychoanalysis goes back to Freud's research in which he used the substance as an ophthalmic anesthetic.

Cocaine was first used as an anesthetic agent in Vienna in 1884. Freud conducted research into the physiological action of the drug with a view to using it for therapeutic purposes. It was nevertheless his colleague, Carl...