This is included under communication because its sole purpose is to communicate
knowledge that I posess to the masses.
Freud Was No Cokehead!

Drug standards have changed quite a bit in the past 50
years. Prior to the 1950's we were using very dirty
drugs. (Dirty meaning that they were often used for many
things other than what they would be used today)

Chlorpromazine (Thorazine) came about in 1958 and it was
initially used as an antiemetic rather than its accepted
use today as an antipsychotic. Physicians struggled to
find compounds that could be used to ease physical pain,
depression, anxiety, and psychosis. Morphine and opium
were used for about damn near anything, from pain relief
to sedation. Cocaine was used as a pick-me-up and an
antidepressant, as well as a local anesthetic.

We really can't judge Freud for using cocaine when it
had an accepted medical use. The reason why it no longer
has an accepted medical use is because it carries many
dangers that modern substances do not posses. We have
lidocaine for anesthisia, methylphenidate (Ritalin) for
a stimulant, and a whole smorgasbord of antidepressants.
None of the drugs used today posses the same risks as
cocaine. We often forget the main tenet of the
hippocratic oath: "Above all, do no harm" Raw opium and
cocaine are not only addictive, but also have many
dangerous side effects. While we still use components of
opium (Morphine, Codeine, Hydrocodone) in some cases,
they were selected because they carry much less of a
danger than the opium as a combination of alkaloids.

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