Cocaine Was In Europe Nearly Two Centuries Earlier Than Previously Thought, New Study Shows

A study by a group of scientists in Italy suggests the coca plant was being used in Europe nearly two centuries earlier than previously thought, noting newfound evidence of the alkaloid of cocaine discovered in human remains from the 1600s.

“Toxicological analyses were performed on preserved human brains” from the crypt of a 17th century hospital in Milan, Italy, the study explains, “revealing the first evidence of Erythroxylum spp. use in Europe before the 19th century, backdating our understanding of the presence of the plant by almost two centuries.”

Previously, it was widely believed that consumption of the coca plant and its derivatives “was limited to the New World until the 19th century, when it was synthesized as cocaine hydrochloride salts,” the study says. Some literature, however, noted the existence of a transatlantic trade in exotic plants in the 16th and 17th centuries that may have included coca.

Analysis of the centuries-old brain tissue revealed the presence of the alkaloid cocaine in two separate biological samples, authors reported, despite records from the hospital apparently not mentioning the administration of coca.

“Archaeotoxicology backdates Erythroxylum spp. [coca] use by almost two centuries in Europe.”

“Given that the plant was not listed inside the detailed hospital pharmacopeia, it may not have been given as a medicinal remedy but may have been used for other purposes,” the study says, noting that the findings “indicated that the cocaine intake occurred through the chewing of coca leaves.”

Past research at the Milanese hospital has also suggested people were using both cannabis and the opium poppy at the facility centuries ago.

Turns out people have been using coca/cocaine in Europe for 400 years.

Forensic archaeology identifies cocaine in preserved brains from 1600s Italy, pushing back our understanding of its arrival in Europe by two centurieshttps://t.co/hjrKq8DcKx

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“This study allows for a better understanding of how the use of cocaine has changed over the centuries in Europe,” the paper says, “starting as a recreational or medical substance, evolving as a medicine in the 19th century, and becoming a widespread substance of abuse for its psychoactive properties, as well as the cause of 1/5 of overdose deaths across the world in the 20th century.”

The discovery contributes to a growing body of research looking into the use and presence of drugs among humans from different time periods.

Another recent study looked back to the dawn of human consciousness and found that psilocybin mushrooms had the “potential to trigger significant neurological and psychological effects” that could have influenced the development of our species over time.

“The origin of human consciousness is one of the great questions facing man,” authors of that study wrote, “and the material collected indicates that psilocybin may have contributed to its early development.”

A separate genomic study, published earlier this year, found that psilocybin mushrooms themselves likely date back about 67 million years, to around the time of the extinction of the dinosaurs. The results also suggested wood decomposition—as opposed to other preferred niches like dung or soil—as “the ancestral ecology of Psilocybe,” though the ability to produce psilocybin seems to have later jumped from some types of fungi to others over tens of millions of years.

As far as human use of psilocybin mushrooms goes, separate research suggests hominids have been ingesting them for potentially millions of years.

Use of marijuana, by contrast, is believed to be more recent. Studies published last year and in 2019 suggest that humans first began using plants of the genus Cannabis about 10,000 years ago, initially using hemp for fibers and nutrition.

Consuming cannabis for its experiential effects, meanwhile, seems to date back roughly 3,000 years. A Chinese emperor about 2,700 B.C.E. described the plant as “a first-class herb.”

Cannabis and the genus that contains hops—marijuana’s closest living relative—diverged about 28 million years ago, according to a 2018 study.

Another study suggests the rise of cannabinioids like THC and CBD may have been the result of genetic mischief at the hands of ancient viruses.

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