Rex Morgan, MD and Cocaine

Notes from: Erickson, P. (1987). The Steel Drug: Cocaine in Perspective. (E. M. Adlaf, G. F. Murray, & R. G. Smart, Eds.). Ontario: Lexington Books.

From book jacket: 

Cocaine's popularity among adults as a so-called recreational drug has skyrocketed. Yet, reliable information about the drug and its users remains relatively scarce. This important book fills that gap by providing extensive historical and cultural background on cocaine as well as the results of a remarkably in-depth study of over one hundred adult cocaine users. 


The authors begin by placing the current cocaine crisis in a social and historical context. They discuss the introduction of cocaine into Europe and North America and examine the roots of current legislation aimed at curbing the drug's use. They also highlight the appealing image of cocaine as portrayed in many aspects of popular culture. 


Based on their own study, the authors provide directions for further research and implementation in legal policy, deterrence, education, and public policy. This extensive, thought-provoking work is essential reading for drug treatment professionals as well as all who are interested in the critical problems of cocaine use.


Patricia G. Erickson, Edward M. Adlaf, and Glenn F. Murray are members of the Prevention Studies Department of the Addiction Research Foundation in Toronto, where Reginald G. Smart is the Department Director. The Foundation undertakes research, treatment, and education in the area of alcohol and other substance dependencies.


Notes from Chapter 2 - Cocaine in Popular Culture: Then and Now

• Popular/mass culture encompasses those "widely accessible forms of transmission of the value, beliefs, and practices of a society." (p. 23)
• Comic strips definitely fit this definition
• Unresolved is the issue of whether pop culture follows public opinion or precedes it (or if they influence each other) (p. 23)
• Cocaine users reported mass media as their source (second to their peers) for expectations of cocaine (p. 23)
• With the counterculture movement of the 1960's came many songs referring to drugs both directly and indirectly; the consequence was the Federal Communications Commission stepping in (1971) to regulate lyrics, when the US Army expressed concerns (p. 24)
• Literature: Sherlock Holmes almost required cocaine for mental stimulation - example given is from The Sign of Four published in 1886 (p. 25)
• Author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, ophthalmologist, only provides concerns of recreational use via Dr. Watson - there is no mention of medical use. Holmes only talks of the desire and positive effects of cocaine (image from: http://www.thisdayinquotes.com/2009/09/oh-watson-sherlock-wants-needle-quick.html)
• Biographies highlighted the use of cocaine among the social elite (due to its high cost) and within the entertainment industry (p. 26-7)
• One study in 1978 by Gerbner suggested 1/5 action comic characters used drugs to gain their superpower (p. 27)
• Rex Morgan, MD exemplifies the stigmatization - Claudia Bishop is a social/recreational user but is seeing Dr. Morgan because she can not control her habit, 1985 strip (p. 27-8)
• Cocaine is sensationalized in newspapers, infiltrating previously unrelated activities/interests such as Sports Illustrated magazine (p. 28)
• Hill (1985) found a weak relationship between public concerns and the political/social content of national news programs, which is contrary to a study by Duster (1970) suggesting that television news influences public opinion, not the other way around (p. 29)
• A sharp increase in articles published from 1981 - 1984 depicting cocaine in a negative light could have served to legitimize the "sick role" of cocaine addicts; The National Institute on Drug Abuse reported an increase in those seeking treatment during this time period (p. 30)
• Movies and television also portray cocaine negatively (p. 31)
• Image of cocaine users is a paradox - they are often people of high social status, yet the consequences of addiction are detrimental (p. 32)