Drug Use
Various sources document Thaw’s drug use, which became habitual after his expulsion from Harvard. He reportedly injected large amounts of cocaine and morphine, occasionally mixing the two drugs into one injection known as a speedball. He was known to also use laudanum; on at least one occasion drinking down a full bottle in a single swallow. Thaw’s drug addiction was verified when Evelyn Nesbit, Thaw’s wife, found confirmation upon opening a bureau drawer. In her own words she related: “One day…I found a little silver box oblong in shape, about two and one half inches in length, containing a hypodermic syringe…I asked Thaw what it was for, and he stated to me that he had been ill, and had to make some excuse. He said he had been compelled to take cocaine.”
Read more about this topic: Harry Kendall Thaw
Famous quotes containing the word drug:
“Narcotics have been systematically scapegoated and demonized. The idea that anyone can use drugs and escape a horrible fate is an anathema to these idiots. I predict that in the near future, right wingers will use drug hysteria as a pretext to set up an international police apparatus.”
—Gus Van Sant, U.S. screenwriter and director, and Dan Yost. Father Tom Murphy (William S. Burroughs)
“While man can still his body keep
Wine or love drug him to sleep,
Waking he thanks the Lord that he
Has body and its stupidity....”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)