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Previous Volume 355:1182 September 14, 2006 Number 11 Next

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Second edition. By Steven B. Karch. 188 pp., illustrated. Boca Raton, FL, CRC Press, 2006. $39.95. ISBN 0-8493-9775-8.

When the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci reached the coast of Venezuela in 1499, he saw people obsessively chewing coca leaves and noted their degraded state. The archeological record suggests that the chewing of coca in South America dates back as far as 4000 years ago. After the Spanish conquest, coca use exploded among native forced laborers, and so did its profitability. In this painstakingly researched history, Steven Karch shows that the lessons of the first documented cocaine epidemic, which occurred in colonial Peru, have been forgotten several times over. The story is both fascinating and enlightening. Who knew that in . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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