Cocaine?

[GregBaron]

Drugs...

Hi all,

In reality I don't believe any true Sherlock Holmes story mentions cocaine. That came in a modern movie remake called The 7 % Solution (I think?). Also, Poe was not an opium addict. This is a common misconception. It's possible he tried it a few times, he did try a dramatic suicide attempt by ingesting laudanum - an opium alcohol mixture - but immediately threw it up. He was also dirt poor. Pharmacies at this time would have had liquid opium available and possibly liquid cocaine. Don't know anything about Pharmacies in 1888 East London. I tend to agree that alcohol was probably the only thing JTR was ingesting - and it's quite a good stimulant (at least at first) and inhibition reducer.....

Sincerely,

Greg

[halomanuk]

Cocaine was around but it was still quite hard to come by so that would have to put Jack into more of an upper-class bracket which i'm definately not convinced he was.

I'm afraid to say that JTR was just plain old fashioned mad.

[j.r-ahde]

Hello you all!

Well, a person called Edgar Allan Poe was an opium addict in the turn of the 1830s-1840s.

Besides, an opium-den on Swandam Lane is mentioned in a Sherlock Holmes -story.

But what are the effects of opium?!

All the best
Jukka

[Mitch Rowe]

Perhaps Sherlock Holmes was the Culprit? I suspect the Gin was enough to cause all sorts of delusions after drinking it heavily day after day. If thats what Jack was doing. I have no idea about any drug use back then but personally I doubt it played a part. At least not as much as the alcohol did.

[diana]

I'm not very knowledgeable about this but by 1888 cocaine had been isolated from the coca leaf and was being marketed. Witness the references in the Sherlock Holmes stories.

Jack seemed to be frenzied in what he did. My first thought is PCP but that wasn't around then. Could cocaine be a part of the picture here? I don't know enough about the symptoms of cocaine intoxication to say.