Was Lizzie a Morphine Addict?

[NancyDrew]

I'm sorry if this is old stuff...but if Lizzie was being given daily injections of morphine sulfate for 10 months while in jail, awaiting her trial, there is NO way she simply stopped the drug cold turkey.


The human body would become habituated to a daily injection of opiod derivative and if the Dr. stopped the shots, she would have gone into a protracted withdrawal. So what happened? Did Dr. Bowen start weaning her down? Did she continue to use morphine the rest of her life? Does anyone know?

THANKS GUYS!!!

[Yooper]

Dr. Bowen prescribed bromo caffeine as a sedative for Lizzie the day of the murders. Some time after that, probably the same day, he prescribed sulfate of morphine as a sedative. I don't know how the medication was administered, injection, pills, liquid, whatever. She was initially given a minimum effective dose for a 120 lb. person, and later a maximum dose for the same weight. I don't know for how long the morphine was prescribed, she may not have been using it all the time she was held in jail.

[NancyDrew]

Thanks for answering my post! I am positive I read somewhere that she continued to receive daily morphine injections the entire 10 months she was in jail, but I will have to go back to my source material and find the citation.

[snokkums]

I'm wondering if maybe she was taking something during the murder. I mean, she told the police so many stories of where she was on the day of the murders. Just wondering.

[Yooper]

I suppose it's possible Lizzie had taken something during the murders, but there was no record of having found any questionable substances by the investigators. I'm sure if a half full container of something like laudanum had been found, it would have been questioned at the time.

[Allen]

Many medicines that we would consider narcotics today were common place in homes at that time and I am not sure they would have raised many eyebrows. Cocaine and morphine were used in baby teething medicines back then. Coca Cola actually contained cocaine.

[Yooper]

That's true, many substances which are now controlled were available over the counter in 1892. The manifestations of abuse of those substances were as apparent back then as they are now. They knew as well as we do what happens when someone uses morphine or laudanum to excess. In any case, it wouldn't have been a viable defense for Lizzie unless she wanted to plead guilty.

[twinsrwe]

Good points, Melissa and Jeff.

I'm sure Eli Bence didn’t give Lizzie’s attempt to buy prussic acid a second thought, until after the murders.