The Columbus Journal, Nebraska, March 23, 1887

If a man were desirous of writing to fill space or utterly exhausting a given subject even to the most thrilling details, I would recommend him to fill his inkstand, get a ream or two of paper and plenty of pens, and have a physician give him a hypodermic injection of cocaine.

No doubt a moderate quantity taken in wine will stimulate the imagination and enable one to write more brilliantly and with less effort than he otherwise could.

The difference between cocaine and alcohol as stimulants is that alcohol has a tendency to lower the mental and moral tone and brutalize the nature, while the cocaine has a refining, softening effect. Under the influence I became rather sentimental and said nice things to everybody.

…but an opium eater has a habit of having a habit, and no will power, and if he were to take sawdust as a substitute for opium he would acquire a sawdust habit.

Take the opium or morphine habit away from the patient and administer cocaine properly and you will cure the opium habit without introducing a cocaine habit.