Jay Mike
Independent Scholar.
Int Rev Neurobiol. 2015;120:27-39. doi: 10.1016/bs.irn.2015.01.001. Epub 2015 Feb 20.
The arrival of cocaine was the formative episode in the modern understanding of the benefits and dangers of neurostimulants. European culture and medicine had historically been poor in stimulant plants and drugs. When coca and cocaine appeared in nineteenth-century Europe, doctors, pharmacists, and the public struggled to understand their benefits and risks, and to formulate a distinction between use and abuse.