Customer Reviews

A Brief History of Cocaine

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The author, who is also a physician, has now become a historian as well. His lucid and methodical recounting of the history of drugs use in general and cocaine in particular, truly opened my eyes. As a physician, he explains why the drug does what it does and why people use it. As a historian, he documents all his statements of fact with an extensive bibliography. He does not sound like he is on a crusade either for or against drugs, but one can't help come to a conclusion about the current state of affairs in the world's "war on drugs." A must-read book for anyone who claims to have an opinion on the issue of drugs in our society.

The author writes well. The book is short and not packed with sidelights. Along the way the author draws parallels with today's headlines, and shows they are old news ("war on drugs" was tried by the Spanish; "zero tolerance" by the early FDA in the US during 1905).

As a bonus, the author explains medical oddities, as he is also the world's expert on drug effects on the body. For example, why cocaine injected is more toxic than cocaine ingested, why cocaine injected in certain parts of the body leads to fatalities while in other parts of the body does not, and why cocaine and wine (which was the basis for a very popular wine 150 years ago--Mariani wine which was one of the first 'celebrity endorsed' mass advertisement product) is more potent than cocaine alone. Also the origins of Merck (cocaine marketer) and Freud (unwitting or witting promoter), and the different species of cocaine plants (some more potent than others).

Packed with information: Coca-cola and cocaine (not enough drug to give you a buzz); the government sponsored use of cocaine (shades of today's North Korea); early explorers promoting cocaine when they should have known better; urban legends and cocaine; why pure cocaine will induce animals to kill themselves from overdose (unlike morphine, another alkaloid based drug).

As a bonus, you learn about cocaine manufacture (coca leaves plus lime, then add to the solution an organic solvent like kerosene, gasoline, or alcohol, then precipitate the solution into a solid by adding an acid (since the solution is base) like sulfuric acid, to yield almost pure cocaine powder).

Very good book for the intelligent person. You can clearly see that today's 'war on drugs' is distorted: any traveler to South America can drink "matte de coca" (Coca leaf tea) and not get high, but try that in North America and the prison lobby will send you to jail.

Dr. Karch's book is neutral on this issue but implicitly argues against a blunderbuss approach.

As a forensic pathologist, and the foremost expert on the pathology of drugs of abuse, Steven Karch is well known around the world. In this new edition, Karch reveals his skill as an historian as well, packing the text with fascinating facts about the centuries of interest this drug has spurred. In some parts, reading like a celebrity tabloid, no person or company is spared the revelation of their involvement in the cocaine business. Freud's testimonials regarding the helpfulness of cocaine in curing morphine addition are worth the price of the book, as are the efforts of the early Parke-Davis, and Merck, to provide enough of the drug to satisfy growing demand.

Despite the seriousness of this subject, Karch never loses a light touch, and a priceless gift for irony: "Herman Knapp...found that when cocaine was applied to his eye and his urethra, the silver nitrate [used for cauterizing and usually very painful] produced no pain whatsoever. Perhaps his enthusiasm had waned by the time he got around to checking his rectum..."

Karch also offers more somber information that suggests a question behind the history--one quarter of incarcerated Americans are in prison for drug offenses. Does that sound like we've won the war?

Karch's book covers a vast amount of ground. As he explains, modern views of cocaine tend to ignore the vast literature written before computer indexing. His own papers on heart pathology in cocaine-related deaths led him to find that the topic had been explored a century earlier, and that the knowledge had been forgotten completely.

But... this is one of the most poorly edited books I have ever seen. Whole paragraphs are recycled in chapter after chapter, dates are misprinted, the index is useless etc. etc.

The same book, shortened by dropping the repetitions, or lengthened by following up on some of the tantalizing subjects hinted at (e.g just how did the Japanese military turn surplus cocaine into cash?), would be much more satisfying.