Guess which psycho-analyst was addicted to cocaine? I’ll give you a few big hints: his initials are S.F., he was obsessed with phalluses, and his theories about psychology still carry more weight than they should.

According to THIS article from the LA Times, Sigmund Freud was a coke-head. He wasn’t the only one addicted to coke at the time, just the most famous. William Halstead, the doctor credited for the use of anesthesia, was also a coke-head. Unlike Freud, Halstead was unable to kick his nasty habit. Freud was a snorter and Halstead used needles to inject the coke into his veins.



In the book, An Anatomy of Addiction by Howard Markel, the author describes how both men became addicted to cocaine at a time when absolutely nothing was known about addiction at all. When each of them started to use cocaine, they were looking towards cocaine as a “miracle drug.”



The story of the doctors’ use of cocaine is absolutely fascinating. Freud first used cocaine to help ease another doctor friend off of morphine, which he was using to treat his pain after losing a hand.



It worked. And Freud starting taking cocaine himself. He kept on using cocaine because the drug gave him a “sexual thrill.” He also credited coke with helping him through a severe depression and wrote an academic article entitled “On Coca” praising the benefits of cocaine. In Anatomy of Addiction, Markel links many of Freud’s ideas and writing as possibly being related directly to Freud’s experiences with cocaine.



Halstead’s life, on the other hand, was tormented and ravaged because of his use of cocaine and morphine. One of Halstead’s friends, William Welch, sought to protect Halstead’s health, his reputation, and his career because he truly believed in the man’s genius. Despite the help of Welch, Halstead suffered greatly during his life as a medical professor at the esteemed John Hopkins University and was absent from work many days. Before his addiction to cocaine began, Halstead was Yale’s captain of the football team and an innovative doctor who made long- lasting changes to medical science.



The book itself also discusses a popular French tonic touted by world leaders as a miracle cure for many ailments. Since the drink was laced with cocaine, it’s no wonder that so many were so positive about the tonic’s beneficial effects.