This very interesting article from 1874 describes the experiments and observations by a British MD into the properties of alkaloid extracts of Coca, Coffee, Tea, Chocolate, Guarana, and other “common stimulants”.
At first I thought that the article was going to examine the therapeutic properties of Coca Leaves, but it soon became clear that the Doctor had little luck in finding fresh Coca leaf, and so he decided to experiment instead on the extract of Coca Leaf, Cocaine, along with the alkaloids of other popular drinks and snacks that had been arriving in Europe since the discovery of the “New World”.
What I find so interesting about this article is the author’s conclusion that cocaine, theine, caffeine, guaranine, and theobromine are “all powerful poisons” and are all “almost identical” in chemical composition.
Yet we happily sell and celebrate our coffee beans, tea leaves, and chocolate beans which have pleasant but not remarkably therapeutic effects, and whose primary alkaloids are “powerful poisons”, while we allow our government and scientific/medical establishment and their owners, Pig Pharma, to demonize and punish anyone who wants to have a cup of Coca Leaf tea a couple of times a day to save their health and perhaps their life. Go figure.
Here is the full article from 1874:
THE BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL, April 18, 1874.
THE PHYSIOLOGICAL ACTION OF COCA, By ALEXANDER BENNETT, M.D.
IN the recent numbers of the BRITISII MEDICAL JOURNAL, there have appeared several interesting notices on the therapeutical effects of “erythroxyloni coca”. This substance has been for some years pretty extensively employed at home, but particularly on the continent, as a stimulant and tonic in a variety of diseases, and, it is said, with considerable success. Still, comparatively little is yet known about the action of the plant. The following observations may not be uninteresting to those who are clinically investigating the properties of the drug, which, as our knowledge of it advances, will doubtless prove a valuable addition to the Pharmacopaia.
My attention was directed to the action of the coca leaves several years ago; and at different times, and from various sources, I have obtained quantities sufficient for experimental purposes. My object was first to ascertain the effects of the drug upon the healthy human subject, with special reference to its stated stimulant and anti-triptic properties; and, with this object, I administered to myself and to others the leaves in doses varying from one to eight drachms in the form of infusion and of extract, and also by chewing them along with different alkalis, after the manner described by travelers as adopted by the natives of Bolivia and Peru.
After a series of experiments carefully conducted, I was not able to convince myself that the drug thus administered had any special effects, with the exception of a sensation of slight local tingling of the tongue and mouth when the leaves were masticated for any length of time. Whether this inert action is due to the leaves having lost their active properties by exportation, to their being improperly selected or prepared, to an insufficient quantity having been administered, or to a defective method of application, I am not in a position to decide. After every precaution and variety of treatment with different samples of the leaves, and in as large quantities as could be conveniently administered, I have failed to satisfy myself that there was even any approach to the powerful and somewhat startling results graphically described by many authors as occurring when the leaves are chewed by the inhabitants of the countries where the plant abounds.
So I next directed my attention to the neutral principle of the coca leaves, and after great difficulty, with the aid of Messrs. Macfarlane and Co., chemists, Edinburgh, I succeeded in obtaining a small quantity of the crystalline substance cocaine (C17H21NO4).
With this I conducted a series of experiments and observations on the lower animals, as far as I am aware, for the first time in this country, and arrived at results which appeared to me of considerable importance, ascertaining that cocaine was a powerful poison with special actions on the nervous system. As coca is extensively employed in South America as a beverage, and as cocaine bears close chemical relations to the neutral principles of tea, coffee, guarana, chocolate, and other well-known stimulants, I proceeded to make a series of experiments also with theine, caffeine, guaranine, and theobromine, with the view of determining the actions of each, and the relations, if any, which existed among them.
In the Edinburgh Medical Journal for October I873 will be found a description in detail of these observations. The general results at which I arrived may be given shortly as follows.
The physiological actions of coca, tea, coffee, guarana, and cocoa, are mainly, if not entirely, due to their neutral principles. (ed. note: the author refers to the dominant alkaloids as “neutral principles.)
Cocaine, theine, caffeine, guaranine, and theobromine are powerful poisons, inducing a series of symptoms affecting the nervous, respiratory, circulatory, vaso-motor, and glandular systems, which terminate, if the dose be large enough, in death.
These five principles are, to all appearances, identical in physiological action.
In small doses not ending fatally, these five substances produce a Cerebral excitement not succeeded by coma, and b. Partial loss of sensibility.
In large doses they produce a. Cerebral excitement, b. Complete paralysis of sensibility, c. Tetanic spasms and convulsions, and d. Death.
They paralyze the entire posterior columns of the spinal cord also the entire system of peripheral sensory nerves; but the anterior columns of the cord and the peripheral motor nerves are not paralysed.
They frequently produce convulsions of a clonic character, but occasionally they cause tetanic spasms, which latter are sometimes so severe as to induce opisthodomos.
They do not produce muscular paralysis.
They at first increase, then impede, and lastly stop, the respirations.
They at first increase, and finally diminish, both the force and frequency of the heart’s contractions.
They produce at first contraction, and afterwards dilatation, of the capillaries and small blood-vessels, with stasis of the blood, indicating first irritation, and subsequent paralysis, of the vaso-motor nerves.
They affect the temperature by first slightly lowering, and secondly increasing, it.
They usually produce contraction of the pupil.
They produce an increase of the salivary secretion.
They induce a peculiar form of tenesmus, accompanied by a copious discharge of clear mucus from the bowels.
These conclusions have been arrived at after a careful series of experiments conducted on more than one hundred animals of different kinds; and it is extremely interesting to learn that those agents, which the different nations of the world have found by experience to produce refreshing and stimulating beverages, although unlike one another and procured from totally different sources, possess in common proximate principles, which not only are almost identical in chemical composition, but also appear similar in physiological action.
According to the above observations, cocaine has the same actions as theine, etc.; so, for clinical purposes, the latter is at present preferable on account of the enormous expense of the former. That the effects of the beverages themselves are mainly, if not entirely, due to the neutral principles they contain, is highly probable; but of their beneficial action in medical practice I am not yet in a position to give an opinion.
However, from their stimulant action and effect on the nervous, system generally, there is every reason to hope that the concentrated forms of these drugs, or the neutral principles themselves, will prove powerful and useful agents in the hands of the physician for the treatment of disease. Before the medical man can practice his profession scientifically, he should be acquainted, not only with the natural course of the malady he proposes to alleviate, but also with the physiological effects of the drug by which he hopes to reach this end.
By observations upon the lower animals, he may also obtain suggestions and information which will materially assist him in relieving and benefiting the human being. With this object, the above investigation was undertaken; and, although the research is yet in its infancy, I venture to hope that my conclusions will not be found deficient in interest and importance to those who desire to establish a sound system of therapeutics upon careful physiological experiment.
(End of BMJ article)
(Further commentary)
Although the early research into Coca Leaf has been largely ignored by modern scientists and physicians, writing just about 100 years after Alexander Bennett, the brilliant MD Andy Weil wrote in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology. 1981 Mar-May;3(2-3):367-76.
“The therapeutic value of coca in contemporary medicine.”
“Coca appears to be a useful treatment for various gastrointestinal ailments, motion sickness, and laryngeal fatigue. It can be an adjunct in programs of weight reduction and physical fitness and may be a fast-acting antidepressant. It is of value in treating dependence on stronger stimulants. Coca regulates carbohydrate metabolism in a unique way and may provide a new therapeutic approach to hypoglycemia and diabetes mellitus. With low-dose, chronic administration it appears to normalize body functions. In leaf form coca does not produce toxicity or dependence. Coca can be administered as a chewing gum or lozenge containing a whole extract of the leaf, including alkaloids, natural flavors, and nutrients.”
The range of diseases and conditions that were successfully treated and cured by European and US physicians using Coca Leaf over the course of hundreds of years should be truly amazing to us in the 21st Century, even those of us who have been propagandized into believing that allopathic medicine and modern science have “made great strides”, “revolutionized the treatment of disease”, yada yada.
As you look over the table below you might reflect on how little actual progress has been made in the treatment and cure of so many diseases, although we have certainly developed a lot of impressive technology and there have been some dramatic, if somewhat mixed-blessing advances such as antibiotics.
However, let me point to just one example; with all of our vaunted antibiotic technology huge numbers of people still die of Pneumonia – a deadly condition that doctors of the 18th and 19th centuries who were familiar with Coca leaf (and who didn’t resort to poisonous ‘remedies’ like Mercury, Arsenic and Bleeding) were quite often able to treat and reverse successfully with a few cups a day of Coca Leaf tea.
Also, since many of today’s most destructive diseases did not exist, or didn’t have a name during those earlier centuries, this post is intended to point to the historical record that strongly suggests that if pure, natural Coca Leaf were freely available today as a natural medicine it could lift the immense burden of these modern conditions and diseases from tens of millions of people virtually overnight, with no “side effects”, no risk, and for literally pennies a day.
Freely available Coca Leaf would literally destroy the market for useless, often even dangerous pharmaceuticals as well as the incredibly lucrative market for America’s beloved over-the-counter “remedies” – which, of course, would guarantee strident howls of objection and opposition. Americans spend $625 Billion a year on the over 300,000 “Over The Counter” medicines that promise relief from pain and suffering of all kinds.
Here is a table taken largely from the work of Dr. Golden, whose “History of Coca” (1901) outlines the conditions and diseases that were known in the 1800’s to be treatable and curable by Coca Leaf, along with number of diseases and conditions that have been largely ‘discovered’ in the century since Dr. Golden wrote. I believe that the evidence that he and other physicians and scientists recorded in their times shows that simple natural Coca Leaf infusions and extracts could prevent, treat and perhaps cure these modern diseases and conditions where the products of “Pig Pharma” so often fail.
Please consider the physical, emotional, spiritual and financial impact on the lives of millions of individuals and their families if even one or two of the conditions/diseases in the following table were proven beyond all doubt, using all of our contemporary research powers, to be either effectively treated or actually cured by drinking Coca Leaf Tea alone – no other treatments or medications needed.
And once you have reflected on this, if you are a strong advocate of legal Cannabis perhaps you’ll consider adding Coca Leaf to your demands that the US government and Pig Pharma back off and go away.
If you would like to read Dr. Golden’s extraordinary “History of Coca” I have digitized his book and it is available here. ($1.99 for the full 251 page book plus bibliography).
I have kept all of the original illustrations intact and – most importantly – I have hyperlinked as many of Dr. Golden’s bibliographic references to the original source materials as I could track down, almost all of them freely available in internet historical book archives.
Have fun – I certainly did while tracking down and studying these obscure but critically important resources for treating and healing disease using one of the most amazing natural medicines ever.
Scientists have announced a remarkable device that is implanted surgically and pumps your food out as soon as you’ve eaten it. They call it the answer to obesity, suitable for just about everyone.
Eat, enjoy, pump.
Well, at a minimum I suppose its better than fingers down the throat because at least you don’t damage your esophagus barfing up all that stomach acid.
This remarkable invention is evidently clean and santiary too. Your chewed and swallowed food is pumped right out before it can be digested. Of course you better be standing by the toilet or have a bucket handy.
Just think – no more nasty bowel movements. Chew, swallow, pump, flush. The savings on TP alone might be worth the implant!
And if you have pets there could even be some big savings there too. The phrase “doggie bag” unfortunately comes to mind.
This post explores a topic not frequently discussed – like not at all.
Cannabis and Coca together will be a far more effective natural therapy than either by themselves, no matter how powerful they each are individually.
One of the most effective applications of Medical Cannabis is to relieve the suffering from a set of core symptoms associated with HIV/AIDS. The primary HIV/AIDS symptoms that yield to Cannabis therapy are anxiety, appetite loss and nausea. Relief from appetite loss and nausea are especially critical because of the muscle, organ and tissue wasting caused by the disease and the accompanying loss of energy to fight the disease.
NORML points out that survey data indicates that “Cannabis is used by as many as one in three North American patients with HIV/AIDS to treat symptoms of the disease as well as the side-effects of various anti-retroviral medications. One recent study reported that more than 60 percent of HIV/AIDS patients self-identify as “medical cannabis users,” and at least one study has reported that patients who use cannabis therapeutically are 3.3 times more likely to adhere to their anti-retroviral therapy regimens than non-cannabis users.”
My main speculation about the Cannabis/Coca relationship is that by combining Cannabis Flower to increase appetite and Coca Leaf to increase metabolism people would have a 100% natural, user-friendly approach to restoring nutritional balance if they were battling the wasting effects of HIV/AIDS.
I’ve also been looking at the signs and symptoms of HIV/AIDS and its accompanying opportunistic infections, and at what the scientific and medical literature from the 1800’s can tell us about the role that Coca Leaf might play alongside Cannabis.
While there was no HIV/AIDS in the 1800’s I have been studying the use of Coca Leaf to relieve and treat multiple symptoms of several diseases with symptoms that either are, or seem to be the same as major symptoms of HIV/AIDS – especially Consumption, as it was called in the 1800’s, or Tuberculosis as we know it today, as well as that ages-old killer Pneumonia. And, of course, TB and Pneumonia are two of the opportunistic diseases that plague late-stage HIV/AIDS patients, so the connection here is strong.
Potentially Coca Leaf Treatable Symptoms In HIV/AIDS Primary or Acute Infection Stage
Coca Leaf Treatable In HIV/AIDS Early Symptomatic Infection Stage
Fever
Fatigue
Weight loss
Cough
Shortness of breath
Potentially Coca Leaf Treatable Signs & Symptoms Of Principal Opportunistic HIV/AIDS Infections
Soaking night sweats
Shaking chills or fever higher than 100 F (38 C) for several weeks
Cough
Shortness of breath
Chronic diarrhea
Headaches
Persistent, unexplained fatigue
Blurred and distorted vision
Weight loss
Discussion Of The Possibilities.
Skepticism is always the best approach to claims and assertions that appear to go way beyond what has already been established, so with my own skeptical hat on let’s take a look at these possibilities one-by-one.
Coca & Consumption
Let’s begin with arguably the most startling treatment concept – the potential of Coca Leaf in the treatment of Tuberculosis – known as Consumption in the 1800’s. And remember, we’re looking at a “treatment” for the nasty symptoms of TB – not a cure for disease itself. Although, of course, with proper ‘treatment’ that restored the body’s ability to fight off the disease many people in the 1800’s did manage to recover – in other words, they were cured. This is where I believe Coca Leaf therapy has much to offer – in assisting the body to re-gain its lost ability to fight off the debilitating symptoms of the disease, enabling the person to rally their inherent strength to fight more effectively.
It’s also worth remembering that in the 1800s doctors had no idea that TB was caused by a bacterium, and there were no antibiotics available to treat the disease. You may be aware of some of the approaches commonly used by doctors of that era – move the patient to a high, dry climate, or send them to a “sanitarium” for a wide range of therapies including steam baths, hot towel wraps, special diets, etc. And in some cases these treatments works – the person’s body was able to fight off TB and cure itself. Again, I believe that may be the highest role for Coca leaf – helping the person fight off some of these opportunistic infections while the anti-retroviral medications do their work.
Consumption was almost universally treated as an inflammatory disease of the lungs, which made Coca Leaf an excellent choice as part of therapy due to its well-established anti-inflammatory properties as well as its property of enabling the lungs to function efficiently at high altitudes.
Today of course we do have a wide range of medicines including specialized antibiotics to fight the disease itself and a wide range of pharmaceuticals from the magic labs of Pig Pharma to treat the symptoms of TB. All of these ‘treatments” are, naturally, virtually unaffordable and are also of doubtful benefit, but at least they give the illusion that something is being done. And of course these ‘treatments’ also give the doctors and hospitals plenty of opportunities to zoom in and out, charging you hundreds of dollars for each drive-by they conduct.
So with that noted, the question arises in my mind – is there enough evidence from the 1800’s regarding Coca Leaf and Consumption for patients and physicians today to be hopeful that Coca can be a useful part of the treatment of tuberculosis accompanying HIV/AIDS?
The simple answer is that the evidence is interesting, promising, but hardly overwhelming. In spite of the well-known anti-inflammatory properties of Coca Leaf, very few physicians in the 1800’s whose focus was the treatment of consumption appear to have taken advantage of this property of Coca Leaf in treating consumption. One of the few doctors who recorded their use of Coca in treating Consumption was the American MD William Tibbles. I’ll leave it to the reader to decide whether or not these few references merit further consideration.
(Excerpt from) “ Erythroxylon Coca: A Treatise On Brain Exhaustion As The Cause Of Disease”, By William Tibbles, MD (1877)
Case 3. A young man, age 36, was brought to me evidently suffering from pulmonary consumption, in an advanced stage; he had been given up by several eminent physicians as incurable. The symptoms under which this gentleman was suffering, were – in short – the following: a very distressing cough, pains in breast and side, expectoration of large quantities of phlegm; bowels very much relaxed; excessive night sweats; falling off of hair; paleness of countenance, with occasional hectic flush; did not keep his bed because cough was worse when in a reclining position, but unable to walk a distance of 100 yards. Pulse 126 per minute. Ascribed his complaint as a consequence of long continued sexual excesses.
We commenced treatment of this case by giving a mixture according to the following formula
Rp. Syrup of Hypophosphite of Iron Syrup of Hypophosphite of Soda Syrup of Hypophosphite of Lime Each 3 ounces. Glycerine extract of Coca-leaf, 3 ounces, mix. Dose : two teaspoonsful three times a day. And also ordered one of my chest pills to be taken three times a day.
This treatment was continued for a period of six weeks; at the end of that time the improvement in the condition of the patient was remarkable. The night sweats had entirely disappeared; cough and expectoration greatly diminished; appetite improved; and had increased about twelve pounds in weight, and was able to walk with comparative ease a distance of two or three miles. In order to test whether this decided improvement was really due to the presence of the preparation of coca-leaf in the mixture. I determined to give him two teaspoonful doses of the mixed syrups alone, this was continued for four weeks, when I found that the patient had sunk very low again, the cough was again becoming distressing, expectoration increased, with night sweats; and he had lost nearly six pounds in weight.
This deciding the point which was raised in my mind as to whether the improvement was due to the syrups or the coca-leaf. I again gave the syrups with the coca-leaf extract, when improvement in the course of a few weeks again became decidedly apparent and proceeded.
Now to the question as to how and in what manner coca-leaf accomplishes the results which are consequent upon its use. It has been shown that all the various processes are under the influence and governance of the force conveyed through the medium of the brain, spinal cord, and their continuations – the nerves. Such being the case we may justly infer that Erythroxylon Coca influences the various functions by its action upon the great centres of the body; for it is only through these that a restorative action can be induced.
What I here want to show is that Coca-Leaf produces these results by imparting nerve food which is converted into nervous energy and thus increasing the total amount of nervous energy and consequent governing force. The functions of the nerves are only restored, when they have become exhausted by physical or mental toil or disease, till after rest etc., proportioned to the amount of exhaustion. And if it can be shown, as we have done, that coca-leaf is capable of either retarding or preventing the condition of exhaustion, and likewise of restoring an actually exhausted body; and if this can only be done by restoring the natural or normal condition of the brain and nervous system, then, we may fairly conclude that the results proved to be consequent upon the use of Erythroxylon coca are brought about simply and only by its imparting to that centre and diverging branches an amount of force which otherwise might only be obtained after partaking of rest and other things proportioned to the exhaustion.
The Coca Leaf: To The Editor Of The Standard.
Sir, – It was with great pleasure that I read an article in the Standard of March 10th upon the remarkable properties of Erythroxylon coca. I am pleased to know that scientific investigators are examining these properties. There is no doubt the public will be grateful for any information that can be given respecting the efficacy of coca in prolonged exertion and in the curing of disease. I have used coca in my practice (in this country) for nearly five years. I think it is an admitted fact that the South American Indians are the most active race of people in the world. This activity is attributed to the natives making frequent use of the leaves of the coca shrub, which grows to the height of about eight feet. Its leaves are from one inch to one inch and a half long, and are of a dark green colour; flowers white; berries red. It is carefully cultivated, and arrives at perfection in about two years, when the native Indians gather the leaves and very care- fully dry them and wrap them in palm leaves and flannel. The physiological effects of the coca leaves upon the system are evidenced by its producing a high grade of vitality (physical and mental); eyes and countenance very brisk and animated; strong pulse; a great desire for activity; the body is extremely vigorous.
I have seen no authenticated account of the coca eater dying in a wretched state; but, on the contrary, evidence goes to show that the coca eater lives to an advanced age. Two or three cases of cure from my note-book may be of interest to your readers.
Case 1. In 1873 I was called to see a gentleman, well built, aged 40 years, who, when in health weighed nearly 15 stones; but at the time I was consulted he weighed eleven stones. He was suffering from all the characteristic symptoms of consumption. His former medical attendant used the ordinary remedies without avail. Debility was so great that it was with difficulty he could walk across his room. We commenced treatment by giving him coca, which speedily relieved him, and wrought a cure in about nine weeks.
Case 2. In the same year a gentleman, aged 46 years, who had suffered for twelve years from amaurosis and paralysis of the lower extremities. In this case a mixture was given with coca, as the active ingredient, with the result that within fifteen weeks his vision was perfectly restored and he was able to walk a distance of several miles without difficulty or fatigue.
Case 3. In 1875, a lady aged 78 years was suffering from extreme debility with sickness, faintness, loss of memory, and fretfulness; her friends expected every hour her decease, but, to the surprise and wonder of her friends, after a month’s treatment with coca she was restored to her usual health and activity.
I have, with success, treated hundreds of cases of debility and consumption, of which the above are examples. In some cases I have used “cocaine”, the active principle of Erythroxylon coca. I can fully endorse the statements of the scientific gentle- men quoted in your article in respect to the efficacy of coca in prolonged exertion.
I am yours, &c, “WILLIAM TIBBLES, M.D. (U.S.)
Coca & Pneumonia
In the 1800s Coca Leaf was used to fight all kinds of respiratory disease, from persistent coughing to severe lung congestion and the accompanying inflammation – in other words, Pneumonia. If Coca Leaf proves to be as effective in fighting Pneumonia as the doctors of the 1800s said it is, then not only HIV/AIDS patients can benefit but so can hospitalized elderly people who succumb to Pneumonia as often as they do from the condition of disease that puts them in the hospital in the first place.
Here is a sampling of what doctors in the 1800s knew about Coca and Pneumonia.
(Excerpt from) “Coca Erythroxylon – It’s Uses In The Treatment Of Disease” by Angelo Mariani (1885)
“Dr. Schwalk relates a very characteristic case of pneumonia, cured by infusion of Coca, and adds: “From the experience I myself made later, in many cases of primitive acute pneumonia, as well as in cases of consecutive pneumonia, it is my opinion that Coca merits the praises which historians of Peru have given it for centuries. This wonderful plant appeases hunger and thirst, and diminishes the necessity of sleep. It is, in a word, the most powerful restorer of the vital forces. It is destined to occupy a high position in the cure of diseases of the digestive and respiratory tracts.”
“Dr. Ch. Gazeau (“Thése pour le Doctorat” Paris, 1870. Parent, édit, page 61 et seq.) thus sums up the physiological action of Coca: “On the stomach, slight excitation, anaesthesia, and probably an increase of the secretion of gastric juice; on the intestines, an increase of intestinal secretion, etc. These manifold physiological effects upon the digestive tube unite to produce a specific action, so to say, against the numerous functional troubles, so varied and so little known, of the organ; which compose it.”
“This author cites a great number of clinical observations, in which Coca has “never failed to produce an admirable action, sometimes even marvellous.” He concludes (page 65): “It seems to me useless to present other facts; these suffice to legitimize this very generalized conclusion : Coca is THE medicament PAR EXCELLENCE FOR MALADIES OF THE DIGESTIVE TRACT.”
“Prof. O. Reviel terminates his article on Coca by saying: “Much still remains to complete the physiological and clinical study of Coca. It is known that it acts upon the sensory and motor nerves. This substance will some day have an important position in therapeutics.”
Beyond Consumption & Pneumonia – Other Potential Uses Of Coca Leaf To Treat and Relieve HIV/AIDS Symptoms
You’ll notice in the lists from the Mayo Clinic that I showed earlier in this post that there is a little cluster of signs and symptoms that have to do with loss of body mass and energy. These include weight loss, wasting syndrome, and muscle and joint aches. Since I’ve covered the evidence on the role of Coca Leaf in dealing with symptoms like these I won’t repeat myself here. Just check out:
Next we come to a biggie – persistent, chronic, overwhelming fatigue. This condition is present at every stage of HIV/AIDS and relief and prevention of fatigue is also one of the most well-established properties of Coca Leaf therapy. Again, this has already been covered here on panaceachronicles in the following posts.
Another symptom that is common at all levels of HIV/AIDS is headache, and treatment of headaches, including migraines all the way up to the phenomenon called “Exploding Brain” is one of the well-established medical applications of Coca Leaf. Treatment of the blurred and distorted vision that accompanies headaches is also well documented. Check out:
Another cluster of symptoms lies around respiratory issues – shortness of breath and a persistent cough. Check the evidence for the effectiveness of Coca Leaf therapy in these posts –
A final group of symptoms can be classified under the heading of “inflammatory conditions” including heart failure, joint pain and muscle aches. Check the following post and see if you think that Coca Leaf therapy might be appropriate for these symptoms of HIV/AIDS
The entire premise of this panaceachronicles blog is that now that so many courageous people have successfully fought the forces of ignorance, greed and oppression to liberate Cannabis to play its rightful role as both a powerful natural medicine as well as a superior element in experiencing a higher quality of life, it is time to do the same for Erythroxylon Coca (and for Papaver Somniferum).
I have a vision of every Citizen of the World having the right to grow their own Cannabis, Coca and Poppy plants whether in a small home garden or even indoors in pots. If I am an elderly person with aching joints, a little ball of freshly harvested opium scraped from a few of my poppies would be just the thing. If I am really tired in the morning and need to get my brain up to speed, it would be great to pick a couple of Coca leaves and make myself a cup of tea. And if I was feeling a bit low and needed some creative inspiration, why shouldn’t I be able to put a pinch of my homegrown bud in a pipe or vaporizer and get that creative boost?
This vision has nothing to do with making big bucks, wielding political and bureaucratic power, public health issues, keeping kids safe, stopping junkie crime, enforcing religious and moral codes, or any of the other tools of repression that have been used for so long to prevent regular people from growing a few simple plants that can help them in ways that no government, no political system, no institution, no organized religion, and no legal system can accomplish.
I believe that the name of this unusual concept is freedom.
In this excerpt from the writings of Dr. Searle (1881) ( full digitized text in “The Coca Leaf Papers”) you’ll find an enlightening discussion of the essential differences between Coca Leaf and Cocaine as therapeutic agents.
In 1881 when Dr. Searle was writing Cocaine had only recently been synthesized in Germany and doctors worldwide were experimenting with this potent extract from natural Coca Leaf. At the same time, the natural Coca Leaf itself had been in use to treat and cure disease for generations, so the question naturally arose – “Are there benefits to the use of the whole leaf that cannot be obtained with the extract, or is the extracted alkaloid Cocaine the entire source of Coca’s healing powers?”
Of course the scientist/entrepreneurs who had worked to identify, extract, refine and finally synthesize the alkaloid Cocaine were hoping – or rather intending – that its use would dominate the market and bring them untold wealth. Rather typical of the thinking of Western allopathic medical science these doctors reasoned that since Coca Leaf was such a remarkable medicine, one ought to be able to define the (single) source of its healing properties and just manufacture that compound. After all, no self-respecting scientist wants to believe that nature can do better than their own laboratory in producing healing medicines (sarc).
In the following passages you’ll read about many of the serious diseases and conditions that doctors were treating successfully with Coca Leaf – and a few that were being treated with Cocaine. It should be obvious to any careful reader that pure, natural Coca Leaf has a far higher therapeutic value than Cocaine, and of course that is the proposition to which I have dedicated this blog.
However, as you read through this material and review the conditions being successfully treated in the 1800’s with Coca Leaf, I ask that you to pay special attention to the references to the value of Coca leaf in treating heart conditions, and particularly the references to the treatment of “dropsy”.
That’s because what used to be called “dropsy” is now called Congestive Heart Failure – one of the leading causes of death and, prior to death, to loss of quality of life among older people. Doctors who specialize in treating people with CHF really have no effective treatment for the condition. They prescribe diuretics and “blood thinners” ( usually rat poison) to relieve the tissue edema that accompanies CHF, but this is not really an effective treatment, and the side effects of diuretics and blood thinners on kidneys and other organ systems are commonly devastating. Modern medicine takes the attitude that once a person has CHF they are on the road to death anyway so why worry about the side-effects of diuretics and blood thinners, since reducing edema at least gives the patient some improvement in quality of life.
What crap – to put it politely. In my next post, Coca Leaf & Congestive Heart Failure – Part Two, I will detail all of the evidence that far from being untreatable, CHF was being effectively treated (and, incidentally prevented) 150 years ago by the use of a few cups of Coca Leaf Tea a day. It is nothing short of criminal negligence on the part of the government, which makes Coca Leaf unavailable to Americans suffering from CHF, and the medical profession, which could advocate for this simple, natural, effective treatment but chooses instead to live and “practice” in complete ignorance of this option. Shame on all of you!
And dear reader, if you have a elderly family member who has CHF, and you are being told by their doctors that there is little that can be done except to give them diuretics and rat poison – please don’t let them get away with this crap. Please confront them with the evidence that I am making available to you. If you do a “find” search of my ebook “The Coca Leaf Papers” for the words “dropsy” and “heart” you will find dozens of instances of physicians and scientists speaking about the efficacy and safety of Coca leaf Tea in treating and reversing this fatal condition.
And just in case you think that this is a cynical attempt by me to sell you a book, if you’ll go to the “Request A Free Book” page of this blog you’ll find that I am offering you “The Coca Leaf Papers” at no cost, unconditionally. Just fill out the contact sheet and press “Send” and I’ll receive your request by email and will send you the complete ebook as a multi-platform .mobi file attachment. Of course it would be nice if you could afford the $3.99 the book costs on Amazon, but if you want to have it for free just ask – if enough people have this information and confront their doctors with it perhaps we can change the cynical, ignorant positions of the government and the medical community.
Just remember the core fact here – Coca Leaf is not Cocaine, and furthermore, Coca Leaf is 100% legal in both Bolivia and Peru so it isn’t as if the whole world agrees that Coca Leaf is an evil drug that should be banned. When you combine this indisputable fact with the equally indisputable fact that hundreds of thousands of elderly people were being routinely cured of “dropsy” in the 1800s, isn’t it time that Americans began insisting that the negligent slaughter of literally millions of our elderly parents and grandparents by government “drug war” bureaucrats, Pig Pharma, and willfully ignorant doctors cease altogether?
A New Form Of Nervous Disease Together With An Essay On Erythroxylon Coca By W. N S. Searle, A.M., M.D., Fellow Of The Medico-Chirurgical Society Of New York, Etc., New York: Fords, Howard, & Hulbert, 1881.
The Discovery Of Cocaine & The Neglect Of Coca
In considering the action of any of the Coca alkaloids on man, it may be well to suggest that possibly one cause of conflicting testimony may have resulted from reporting the influence of the alkaloid upon animals, the effects of which are not always uniform with their action on man. In experiments upon animals those symptoms which follow doses full enough to create some outward sign are alone seen, while the agreeable exaltation such as would be experienced in man from a relatively much smaller dose can not be appreciated. A dose of cocaine which in one of the lower animals would cause depression, would under the controlling influence of a greater cerebral development in man occasion exhilaration, an effect probably resulting from inhibition of certain of the brain cells, thus inducing slight loss of coordination similar to that following a small dose of opium or alcohol. Both alcohol and opium seriously disturb the normal relations of one part of the brain with another, the nerve centers being paralyzed in the inverse order of their development. The primary exhilaration being succeeded by a narcotic action when the inhibitory paralysis permits the emotions full sway. Coca, however, appears to stimulate the brain by an harmonious influence on all the brain cells so the relation of its functions is not deranged.
Essential Differences Between Coca & Cocaine
The action of cocaine has been placed midway between morphine and caffeine. In man the initial effect of Coca is sedative, followed by a rapidly succeeding and long continued stimulation. This may be attributed to the conjoined influence of the associate alkaloids upon the spinal cord and brain, whereby the conducting powers of the spinal cord are more depressed than are the brain centers. In view of these physiological facts it is unscientific to regard strychnine as an equivalent stimulant to Coca or a remedy which may fulfill the same indications, as erroneously suggested by several correspondents. For immediate stimulation Coca is best administered as a wine, the mild exhilaration of the spirit giving place to the sustaining action of Coca without depression.
The action of Coca and cocaine, while similar, is different. Each gives a peculiar sense of well being, but cocaine affects the central nervous system more pronouncedly than does Coca, not – as commonly presumed – because it is Coca in a more concentrated form, but because the associate substances present in Coca, which are important in modifying its action, are not present in cocaine. The sustaining influence of Coca has been asserted to be due to its anӕsthetic action on the stomach, and to its stimulating effect on brain and nervous system. But the strength-giving properties of Coca, aside from mild stimulation to the central nervous system, are embodied in its associate alkaloids, which directly bear upon the muscular system, as well as the depurative influence which Coca has upon the blood, freeing it from the products of tissue waste. The quality of Coca we have seen is governed by the variety of the leaf, and its action is influenced by the relative proportion of associate alkaloids present. If these be chiefly cocaine or its homologues the influence is central, while if the predominant alkaloids are cocamine or benzoyl ecgonine, there will be more pronounced influence on muscle. When the associate bodies are present in such proportion as to maintain a balance between the action upon the nervous system and the conjoined action upon the muscular system, the effect of Coca is one of general invigoration.
It seems curious, when reading of the marvelous properties attributed by so many writers to the influence of Coca leaves, that one familiar with the procedure of the physiological laboratory should have arrived at any such conclusion as that of Dowdeswell, who experimented with Coca upon himself. After a preliminary observation to determine the effect of food and exercise he used Coca “in all forms, solid, liquid, hot and cold, at all hours, from seven o’clock in the morning until one or two o’clock at night, fasting and after eating, in the course of a month probably consuming a pound of leaves without producing any decided effect.” It did not affect his pupil nor the state of his skin. It occasioned neither drowsiness nor sleeplessness, and none of those subjective effects ascribed to it by others. “It occasioned not the slightest excitement, nor even the feeling of buoyancy and exhilaration which is experienced from mountain air or a draught of spring water.”
His conclusion from this was that Coca was without therapeutic or popular value, and presumed: “The subjective effects asserted may be curious nervous idiosyncrasies.” This paper, coming so soon after the publication of a previous series of erroneous conclusions made by Alexander Bennett, created a certain prejudice against Coca. Theine, caffeine and theobromine having been proved to be allied substances, this experimenter proceeded to show that cocaine belonged to the same group. As a result of his research he determined that “the action of cocaine upon the eye was to contract the pupil similar to caffeine,” while the latter alkaloid he asserted was a local anesthetic; observations which have never been confirmed by other observers.
In view of our present knowledge of the Coca alkaloids, it seems possible that these experiments may have been made with an impure product in which benzoyl-ecgonine was the more prominent base. However, the absolute error of Bennett’s conclusions has been handed down as though fact, and his findings have been unfortunately quoted by many writers, and even crept into the authoritative books. Thus Ziemssen’s Cyclopcedia of the Practice of Medicine which is looked upon as a standard by thousands of American physicians, quotes Bennett in saying: “Guaranine and cocaine are nearly, if not quite, identical in their action with theine, caffeine and theobromine.” The National Dispensatory refers to the use of Coca in Peru as being similar to the use of Chinese tea elsewhere – as a mild stimulant and diaphoretic and an aid to digestion – which are mainly the properties of coffee, chocolate and guarana, and Bennett is quoted to prove that the active constituents of all these products: “Although unlike one another and procured from totally different sources possess in common prominent principles, and are not only almost identical in chemical composition, but also appear similar in physiological action.”
These statements, which are diametrically opposed to the present accepted facts concerning Coca, are not merely a variance of opinion among different observers, but are the careless continuance of early errors, and suggest the long dormant stage in which Coca has remained, and has consequently been falsely represented and taught through sources presumably authentic.
As may be inferred from its physiological action, Coca as a remedial agent is adapted to a wide sphere of usefulness, and if we accept the hypothesis that the influence of Coca is to free the blood from waste and to repair tissue, we have a ready explanation of its action.
Bartholow says: “It is probable that some of the constituents of Coca are utilized in the economy as food, and that the retardation of tissue-waste is not the sole reason why work may be done by its use which can not be done by the same person without it.”
Stockmann considers that the source of endurance from Coca can hardly depend solely upon the stimulation of the nervous system, but that there must at the same time be an economizing in the bodily exchange. An idea which is further confirmed by the total absence of emaciation or other injurious consequences in the Indians who constantly use Coca. He suggests that Coca may possibly diminish the consumption of carbohydrates by the muscles during exertion. If this is so, then less oxygen would be required, and there is an explanation of the influence of Coca in relieving breathlessness in ascending mountains.
Coca Leaf As A Safe And Effective Medical Treatment
Prominent in the application of Coca is its antagonism to the alcohol and opium habit. Freud, of Vienna, considers that Coca not only allays the craving for morphine, but that relapses do not occur. Coca certainly will check the muscle racking pains incidental to abandonment of opium by an habitué, and its use is well indicated in the condition following the abuse of alcohol when the stomach can not digest food. It not only allays the necessity for food, but removes the distressing nervous phenomena.
Dr. Bauduy, of St. Louis, early called the attention of the American Neurological Association to the efficiency of Coca in the treatment of melancholia, and the benefit of Coca in a long list of nervous or nerveless conditions has been extolled by a host of physicians.
Shoemaker, of Philadelphia, has advocated the external use of Coca in eczema, dermatitis, herpes, rosacea, urticaria and allied conditions where an application of the Fluid Extract of Coca one part to four of water lends a sedative action to the skin. The influence of Coca on the pulse and temperature has suggested its employment in collapse and weak heart as recommended by Da Costa, and it has been favorably employed to relieve dropsy depending on debility of the heart, and for uraemia and scanty secretion of urine. In seasickness Coca acts as a prophylactic as well as a remedy. Vomiting of pregnancy may be arrested by cocaine administered either bv the mouth or rectum.
In the debility of fevers Coca has been found especially serviceable, and in this connection Dr. A. R. Booth, of the Marine Hospital Service, at Shreveport, Louisiana, has written me that he considers cocaine one of the most valuable aids in the treatment of yellow fever. By controlling nausea and vomiting, as a cardiac stimulant, as a haemostatic when indicated, to hold in abeyance hunger, which at times would be intolerable but for the effect of cocaine. One who has seen a yellow fever stomach, especially from a subject who has died from “black vomit,” must have been impressed with the absolute impossibility of such an organ performing its physiological functions. Dr. Booth makes it an inflexible rule, never to allow a yellow fever patient food by the mouth until convalescence is well established. In cases of fine physique he has kept the patient without food for ten or twelve days, and in two cases fourteen and fifteen days respectively, solely by the judicious administration of cocaine in tablets by the mouth. Of two hundred and six cases of yellow fever treated in this manner there was not one relapse. A similar use is made of cocaine to abate the canine hunger of certain cases of epilepsy and insanity, as well as to appease thirst in diabetes.
The Peruvian Indians employ Coca to stimulate uterine contractions and regard it as a powerful aphrodisiac. Leopold Casper, of Berlin, considers Coca one of the best of genital tonics, and many modem observers concur in this opinion. Vecki says that cocaine internally to a man aged fifty-six invariably occasioned sexual excitement and cheerfulness. The Homœopaths who have long regarded Coca as a valuable remedy, employ Coca in sexual excesses, especially when dependent on onanism. Allen has given a “proving” of Coca that covers twelve pages, and Bering’s Materia Medica gives provings by twenty-four persons, and recommends Coca in troubles coming with a low state of the barometer.
Hempel says: “I have found a remarkable aversion to exertion of any kind in consequence of nervous exhaustion frequently relieved with great promptness by Coca.” But it is not my intention to here enumerate the various symptoms for which Coca is regarded as a specific. I have only space to briefly suggest its possible application as a remedy. A resume of the various conditions in which Coca has commonly been found serviceable, and its relative employment as classified from the experience of several hundred physicians, correspondents in this research, will be found tabulated in the appendix. Coca may be given in doses equivalent to one or two drachms of the leaves three or four times a day, either as an infusion or as a fluid extract or wine; the latter especially being serviceable for support in acute disease as well as an adjunct indicated in those conditions where its use may tend to maintain the balance of health.
This very interesting article from 1874 describes the experiments and observations by a British MD into the properties of alkaloid extracts of Coca, Coffee, Tea, Chocolate, Guarana, and other “common stimulants”.
