Drugs in fiction

In the October 2010 issue of Pharmacy Professional there is an article — “Drugs in the world of Sherlock Holmes”. I was surprised to discover that the article includes Thomas de Quincey in a list of 19th century writers who, “it is thought, occasionally took recreational drugs”.

My surprise was because de Quincey’s best known work is ‘Confessions of an English opium eater’, a title that is a clear giveaway. De Quincey first took laudanum (tincture of opium) in 1804 for neuralgia. He continued to use it recreationally, but infrequently, until 1813, when he began taking it daily, at times in extreme doses.

After penning his confessions in 1821 he carried on using the drug until his death in 1859, sometimes resorting to huge doses — hardly an occasional habit.

The book was certainly known to Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes. Indeed, one story, ‘The man with the twisted lip’, describes a formerly upright man who has descended into opium addiction after attempting to experience the dreams and sensations described by De Quincey.