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Leaves of the coca plant (Erythroxylum novogranatense var. Novogranatense), from which cocaine, a naturally occurring local anesthetic, is derived. [1] [2]An anesthetic (American English) or anaesthetic (British English; see spelling differences) is a drug used to induce anesthesia — in other words, to result in a temporary loss of sensation or awareness.
The coca plant resembles a blackthorn bush, and grows to a height of 2 to 3 m (7 to 10 ft). The branches are curved, and the leaves are thin, opaque, oval, and taper at the extremities.
August Bier (1861–1949), pioneer of spinal anesthesia. In 1855, Friedrich Gaedcke (1828–1890) became the first to chemically isolate cocaine, the most potent alkaloid of the coca plant. Gaedcke named the compound "erythroxyline". [4] [5]
the typical farmer will plant coca on a sloping hill so rainfall will not drown the plants as they reach full maturity over 12 to 24 months after being planted; the main harvest of coca leaves takes place after the traditional wet season in March, with additional harvesting also taking place in July and November
Coca eradication is a strategy promoted by the United States government starting in 1961 as part of its "war on drugs" to eliminate the cultivation of coca, a plant whose leaves are not only traditionally used by indigenous cultures but also, in modern society, in the manufacture of cocaine. The strategy was adopted in place of running ...
Because coca and cocaine were being trafficked up through South and Central America to the United States, coca production in South America came to the attention of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, which, subsequently under Plan Colombia, began to fund eradication efforts across the continent. Plan Colombia sent hundreds of millions of ...
Erythroxylaceae (the coca family) is a family of flowering trees and shrubs consisting of 4 genera and 271 species, native to Africa and South America. [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] The four genera are Aneulophus Benth. , Erythroxylum P.Browne , Nectaropetalum Engl. , and Pinacopodium Exell & Mendonça .
Anesthesia is a combination of the endpoints (discussed above) that are reached by drugs acting on different but overlapping sites in the central nervous system. General anesthesia (as opposed to sedation or regional anesthesia) has three main goals: lack of movement , unconsciousness, and blunting of the stress response. In the early days of ...