Made from morphine or diacetylmorphine (heroin), cocaine, highly pure ethyl alcohol (some recipes specify gin), and sometimes with chlorpromazine (Thorazine) to counteract nausea, it was given to terminally ill individuals (especially cancer patients) to relieve pain and promote sociability near death.
[2][4] The original idea for an oral mixture of morphine and cocaine helping patients in agony with advanced disease is credited to surgeon Herbert Snow in 1896.
However a series of trials in 1977-79 found that the diacetylmorphine was no more effective than an equivalent amount of morphine, whilst tolerance caused the cocaine to become ineffective within a few days.
While each of the ingredients combats pain or other problems that occur with it in those who may be nauseated from effects of chemotherapy, radiation or high and escalating doses of morphine (which can also cause somnolence or sleepiness, necessitating the stimulant), it is also anecdotally acknowledged[by whom?]
and commonly used: for example the caffeine content of many codeine-based pain relievers, and prescription of dextroamphetamine or methylphenidate to patients on high doses of opioids both to combat somnolence from the painkillers and to boost their pain-killing ability.