3. Freud studied cocaine extensively, including its recreational use
Freud’s research into the effects of cocaine was based on his own personal use and reactions to the drug. He wrote of the “lasting euphoria” offered by ingestion of the drug, while observing that it tended to suppress the desire for food. He was also impressed with the drug’s ability to stimulate physical activity. Freud was supported in his research by two manufacturers and distributors of the drug and other patent medicines which contained it, Parke-Davis and Merck. In other words, Freud was endorsing the use of drugs which he was receiving free from the manufacturers.
His research did not address the issue of cocaine’s addictive properties other than to deny them. “It seems to me noteworthy—and I discovered this in myself and in other observers who were capable of judging such things—that a first dose or even repeated doses of coca produce no compulsive desire to use the stimulant further…” he wrote, adding that the drug actually produced an “aversion” to using more. Freud began to distribute the drug to colleagues, with his recommendations and observations regarding its use. Among the other uses he recommended, Freud believed the judicious use of cocaine would cure alcoholism, and addiction to morphine and opium.