Sigmund Freud
A little-known fact. Did you know that Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, struggled with cocaine use throughout his career? This came about after he started experimenting with cocaine as a possible treatment for morphine addiction. Freud started using cocaine himself to combat his own negative emotions. He began his recovery from cocaine addiction in the 1890s only after one of his patients died from an overdose of the same.
It's an unfortunate fact that one of the most widely-recognized supporters of cocaine personally struggled with an addiction to it.
Aaron Burr
Aaron Burr, one of America’s most famous historical figures, had a brilliant career until his famous duel with Alexander Hamilton.
In 1808, he moved to Britain with relatives. During his four years there, Burr kept an explicit diary that spoke of his relations with prostitutes, his illnesses, and what he used to alleviate them.
In Burr’s diary, we read of his dependence on opium. He wrote about using opium for toothaches, insomnia, headaches, nausea from its use. “Have had a most uncomfortable night. Swallowed of the opium enough to sicken and stupefy me.” Might have been ac common entry in his journal.
Thomas Edison
Thomas Edison, one of the most famous inventors in American history, frequently drank Vin Mariani. This was a concoction of Bordeaux wine treated with coca leaves. The ethanol in the Bordeaux would extract cocaine from the coca leaves in high concentrations of more than 7 mg per each fluid ounce of wine. So essentially, Edison drank wine mixed with cocaine. This could explain, no doubt, why he reportedly only slept for around fours a night.
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin, one of America’s founding fathers, is known for many things, but his addiction to opioids and alcohol might not be one of them.Franklin suffered from many painful diseases. To treat these in 1782, his doctors prescribed laudanum (an opioid). This did allow him to function and socialize…for a while.
His health took a massive hit as the addiction worsened. He even developed a speech impediment and memory loss.
He became so addicted that he became dependent on the drug for simple day-to-day tasks. Opioids may have seemed like a good way to alleviate his pain, but his many painful health problems were actually exacerbated by the very medications he was given to alleviate them.
Vincent Van Gogh
Vincent Van Gogh smoked a pipe and drank absinthe on the reg, which caused hallucinations and delirium. It was no secret that he was a bit eccentric to say the least. Such as the time he cut off his ear and gave it to a prostitute.
It is now widely believed that Van Gogh’s eccentricities came about from his regular use of absinthe combined with his alcoholism. He once stated, “Meanwhile, you do understand that if alcohol has undoubtedly been one of the great causes of my madness, then it came on very slowly and will go away slowly too, assuming it does go, of course.” Van Gogh eventually shot himself and died in July of 1890.
Mary Todd Lincoln
This story is like, “WOW! Who would have guessed?”
Mary Todd Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln’s wife, suffered from painful migraines, depression, and anxiety most of her life. Along with a lot of wine, Mary also used paregoric, a type of opium, for relief. One of Mary’s maids saw that Mary’s heavy use of paregoric made her violent and difficult to deal with. Mary also used laudanum for her headaches and to help with childbirth.
After Abe was assassinated, Mary’s opium use reached new and more dangerous heights. She would mix various opium products together. Her family even tried to have her committed. She was known to buy a bottle of laudanum, drink the whole thing right on the street, then go right back in for another bottle.
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway, the very famous American writer, was an alcoholic throughout his life.
His father died of a self-inflicted gun wound and he was heard saying about his father’s death, “I’ll probably go the same way.” His continued struggles with substance abuse led to a much deeper depression. In the end, he shot himself to death in July 1961, like his father, after other failed suicide attempts.
Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius, one of Rome’s great emperors, is most famous today for his book Meditations. Many people still ascribe to his stoic philosophy today. It is rumored that Aurelius was addicted to opium which, at the time, was only available to the very wealthy.
As it turns out, Aurelius was a frail and sickly man so to combat that, his physician, Galen, prescribed theriac, a type of opium. According to Galen, Aurelius took the medication (drug) every night because he was unable to sleep without it.
