# Old Vices of Intoxication **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 29, 2000, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-vices-of-intoxication/31141 "2000-08-29T03:05:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2000, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-vices-of-intoxication/31141/21 "2000-08-31T19:36:25Z")
Chloral hydrate is also used to sedate alcoholics while they are detoxing (the better to try and prevent the DTs). Of course, valium and other drugs can be used this way as well. ---
**Author:** ![lawoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2000, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-vices-of-intoxication/31141/22 "2000-11-03T13:25:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by LisaRx \* > \*\*It brings to mind another question of mine, though… > Why do old people get so hung up on sleep problems? I only wish I could stay up at night and get things done. Regularity of bowels and sleep is a very big preoccupation for a great many of these folks, though. \*\* Insomnia’s a bitch… staying up a long time (occasionally) is great when you can make it up later, but when you can’t… ugh. Also, if you were a shut in, or an elderly person w/out many friends, why would it be cool to be awake even LONGER, giving you even more time to think about your situation, etc… ---
**Author:** ![mongrel\_8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@mongrel\_8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mongrel_8)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2000, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-vices-of-intoxication/31141/23 "2000-11-03T15:30:45Z")
Absinthe was made illegal because there was some signs that it caused insanity. Several famous people were known drinkers including Ernest Hemingway and Vincent Van Gogh. Here is a good web site on it [http://hbd.org/brewery/library/absfaq.html](http://hbd.org/brewery/library/absfaq.html) ---
**Author:** ![scratch1300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dfb087/32.png) [@scratch1300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scratch1300)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2000, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-vices-of-intoxication/31141/24 "2000-11-03T15:48:50Z")
I’ve heard that Pernod is pretty close to absinthe (as far as taste is concerned; it contains no wormwood) if anyone wants to give it a whirl… ---
**Author:** ![writefetus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9de053/32.png) [@writefetus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/writefetus)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2000, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-vices-of-intoxication/31141/25 "2000-11-03T16:27:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Myron Van Horowitzski \* > \*\*In the 19th century, young society people would get together and inhale the gas ether. They’d all turn into a bunch of giggling, stumbling idiots. > > Incidentally, ether’s use as an anaesthetic came later, after a doctor who frequented such parties noticed that with all the stumbling going on, nobody ever yelled, “Ouch!” \*\* That would’ve been Dr. Crawford W Long of Jefferson Ga. He was approached by some UGA students,intent on obtaining some certain intoxicants from the good Dr. with which to “party-down”,he offered insted some ether to the colligiates and, to quote ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA :…he observed that persons injured in “ether frolics” (social gatherings of people who were in a playful state of ether-induced intoxication) seemed to suffer no pain, and in 1842 he painlessly removed a tumour from the neck of a patient to whom he had administered ether." …there you have it,so the next time some Reaganyouth tries to tell you that nothing of value ever grew out of recreational drug use,ask them if they would like abdominal surgery w/o any anesthesia. ---
**Author:** ![Tzel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Tzel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzel)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2000, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-vices-of-intoxication/31141/26 "2000-11-03T17:34:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Ryan \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by rastahomie \* > > **Well, back in the days of The Old West many of the settlers/outlaws/lawmen/homesteaders/etc. were Civil War soldiers, many of whom had gotten addicted to Morphine during or after the war. These days I think you’d be hard-pressed to find a local drug dealer who could score you some Morphine.** > > Really? I was under the impression that Morphine and heroin are basically the same drug. Kinda. A morphine fix will ease junk sickness from heroin addiction. As I understand it, heroin is basically morphine with some kind of additive that makes it soak into the brain faster. ---
**Author:** ![Tzel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Tzel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzel)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2000, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-vices-of-intoxication/31141/27 "2000-11-03T17:40:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by LisaRx \* > \*\* > One of the popular “highs” for bored teens is to drink a bottle of Robitussin-DM ®. Since dextromethorphan is a “relative” of codeine, if you ingest enough, you can catch a buzz. Unfortunately 98% of the time, the guaifenesin in the product will make you puke. Sounds like a lot of fun to me! > \*\* Dextromethorphan also acts as a dissociative, so if you drink a lot of it (several bottles of DM) you can actually have a serious trip, hallucinations and all. And Robitussin Maximum strength doesn’t have guaifenisin. I haven’t done it myself, but it does have recreational value, judging from the testimonies of others who have tried it. If you can get past the patheticness of drinking cough syrup to get high, you really do have a potent drug at your disposal. As for the comments on opium, there actually was quite a bit of opium going around up here in Plattsburgh, NY last year. I had the pleasure of smoking it a few times. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2000, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-vices-of-intoxication/31141/28 "2000-11-03T17:43:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ChiefWahoo \* > \*\*_Originally posted by rastahomie_ > > > [@](#): > > > > \*\* I think opium has all but vanished from use these days\*\* > > Just my 2¢: > Opium hasn’t vanished from use, I just don’t think it’s extremely common. I smoked opium twice in my younger days and have been offered it a couple more times. > \*\* LisaRx, is crude opium (as opposed to morphine or codeine) still used pharmaceutically at all? Have you ever filled a script for paragoric or Dover’s powder? ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2000, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-vices-of-intoxication/31141/29 "2000-11-03T18:00:22Z")
the only drug that I’ve known to pretty much totally fade from the scene happened back in the late 70’s and early 80’s. there was a shortage of heroin available on the streets (or so it seemed, since the heorin addicted folks I worked with had to find substitutes). So, they used a combination of a particular pain killer plus a decongestant (won’t name them here) that were referred to as “T’s and Blues”. Bad combo apparently. Several of the small sampling I knew had seizures based on this combo, and other medical nasties. being an observer of the drug abuse world for 20+ years, I’ve seen trends come and go, there does seem to be a core group of folks who are ever searching for the perfect chemical combination to achieve nirvana. The basic groups of halucinigens, central nervous system depressants and c.n.s. stimulants, tho’ don’t really change. Certainly designer drugs come and go (heroin was originally considered to be a safer version of morphine for example), don’t see much PCP used these days, but I’m sure that it stil is available. It’s interesting to me to hear the Drug enforcement officials give interviews when the trends change gears. When cocain came 'round again, it was the touted as the worst thing ever, then of course, there was a resurggence of heroin, and the same thing was said. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-vices-of-intoxication/31141.md?page=1)