Italian researchers recently made an intriguing discovery of coca use in 17th century Milan, pushing back evidence of the plant’s presence in the Old World by nearly two centuries. Many headlines are wrong, confusing coca with cocaine. The shift to industrialized drugs in the 19th century impacted modern drug culture significantly. The use of coca leaves in the brains suggests broader knowledge and use than previously suspected. The study raises intriguing questions about early modern trade, medical practices, and cultural exchange. The intersection of physical and written historical records is exciting, especially in the context of chemical and genetic analysis of historical drug samples. More research is needed to understand widespread coca use in Europe in the 1600s fully.
https://resobscura.substack.com/p/on-17th-century-cocaine