De Quincy opium consumption

[neu_nobody]

So, how much did he consume in morphine equivalent?

As far as I understand, 1 grain ~ 64,79mg.

ChatGPT calculations say that in one drop of 10% of Laudanum there is 0.05ml, ans 5mg of Opium, and therefore about 0.5mg of morphine.
So 8000 drops = 4000mg of Morphine.
Pretty strong habit, buy not really special.
People on morphine substitution get 1200mg/day for example.

Strange as it may sound, I had a little before this time descended suddenly, and without any considerable effort, from 320 grains of opium (i.e. eight {16} thousand drops of laudanum) per day, to forty grains, or one-eighth part.

I here reckon twenty-five drops of laudanum as equivalent to one grain of opium, which, I believe, is the common estimate. However, as both may be considered variable quantities (the crude opium varying much in strength, and the tincture still more), I suppose that no infinitesimal accuracy can be had in such a calculation. Teaspoons vary as much in size as opium in strength. Small ones hold about 100 drops; so that 8,000 drops are about eighty times a teaspoonful. The reader sees how much I kept within Dr. Buchan’s indulgent allowance.

 

[daturetard]

Chat gpt is not correct with damn near anything concerning legally grey or illegal shit. There is not good information for it to use and what there is is conflicting. If you want answers, you'll need to do the math yourself or find somebody more helpful than me. Look up the actual tests that will give you a result of morphine percentage, then multiply that by whatever percentage of opium WAS in an average preparation of laudanum (ie: iirc, opium should be from 12-20% morphine and like 3% codeine, and laudanum today is about 10% opium. I would have to assume older laudanum was stronger, as currently its only use is diarrhea.) My main point is his laudanum would be stronger than whatever chat gpt is currently referencing.

Using his subjective experience, 68mg=25 drops. 68/25=2.72. This would mean the opium it's self was 2.72x more potent than the laudanum. If you take the 12%(on the low side), that would be divided by 2.72, giving the the percentage of morphine in his laudanum based on his assumptions, though it is, as he said, highly variable. (No real way to calculate this). 12/2.72=4.41% (again, low end) morphine in laudanum.