Drug use Sherlock Holmes

1891 sidney paget strand portrait of holmes man twisted lip

holmes uses addictive drugs, in absence of stimulating cases. uses cocaine, injects in seven-percent solution syringe kept in morocco leather case. although holmes dabbles in morphine, expresses strong disapproval when visits opium den; both drugs legal in late-19th-century england. watson , holmes use tobacco, smoking cigarettes, cigars, , pipes, , detective expert @ identifying tobacco-ash residue.

as physician, watson disapproves of friend s cocaine habit, describing detective s vice , , concerned effect on holmes s mental health , intellect. in adventure of missing three-quarter , watson says although has weaned holmes drugs, remains addict habit not dead, merely sleeping .