Cocaine found in mummy’s brain reveals when Europeans first used the drug

Mummified brain tissue from two individuals found in body of 17-year-old girl^NumberTraces of cocaine found in a 19th-century basement in Milan, Italy, have revealed that the drug was used in Europe 200 years earlier than previously recorded.

Coca leaves, from which cocaine is made, have been chewed in their native South America for thousands of years, but the drug only became popular in Europe in the 19th century.^Number It was chemically isolated from the plant in the 19th century.

The Spanish conquistadors were aware of the psychoactive and therapeutic properties of the coca leaf…