Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), Austrian neurologist and founder of PSYCHOANALYSIS, became interested in COCAINE in the early 1880s. At the time he was in his late twenties and was a medical house officer at the Vienna hospital called the Allgemeine Krankenhaus. He was able both to gain access to the literature about cocaine and, at some expense, to the substance itself (which was not illegal at that time). There had been articles in the American medical literature describing cocaine used in the treatment of various ills and for drug dependencies as almost a panacea. The ability of cocaine to fend off fatigue and enhance mood also came to Freud's attention. He was particularly taken by suggestions that cocaine might be an adjunct to, or even a cure for, ALCOHOL or OPIOID dependencies. His interest was heightened because one of his close teachers and friends, Ernst...