Puzzle Description:

Many grew up learning about Sherlock Holmes from the Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce movies produced in the late thirties to mid forties. Based soley on those movies, you would not have known about the great detective's cocain addiction. Even in the popular BBC radio series staring Carleton Hobbs and Norman Shelley, references to Holmes' current or former habit were toned down or edited out altogether when aired in the U.S. during the early sixties. Holmes defended his use of cocain as the only way to keep his remarkable brain stimulated when between cases (too bad Web PBN wasn't around then). With Watson's insistence and help, Holmes was able to wean himself from that "drug mania" sometime around 1894, just prior to The Adventure of the Missing Three-quarter. For some time Watson was clearly worried that his friend would relapse but, as far as we know or will ever know, he never did. ================================================================================ When our son was eight years old I went to tuck him in one night and found him crying. That day in school they taught about the effects of cigarette smoking. I was a smoker and now Alex knew what harm I was doing to his dad. - - - - - I had my last cigarette that night, in 2002. I guess sometimes, maybe often, we lose sight of our importance and responsibility to others until we see it from their eyes.

#1: Jota (jota) on Mar 4, 2013

Great story and message! Thanks!

My husband and I enjoy the new series called Elementary. I always thought that Sherlock Holmes was a fictional character.

Welcome back! Excellent puzzle and enjoyed the history lesson. The fairly recent and longer running series on PBS showed him indulging in his addiction. And what a great insight you gained from your son.

Thx Dave,I wasn't aware. I'm glad you quit after what your son said,enjoy your good health and your son.:)

Great Puzzle Dave. I always like the added bonus of learning something after solving a puzzle...so thank you Dave.

Fun puzzle, Dave.

Great puzzle. Good story too, Dave. My wife stopped smoking the day we confirmed she was pregnant with our first - he's now 24 and she's still not smoking.

Ruby, Holmes was a fictional character, written by Sir Arthur Conon Doyle. However, he wrote the book's as if Holmes was real and as if his friend Dr. Watson was the author, writing about their adventures.

Thanks all!

Norma - I'm glad to be back (the last couple of months have been a long slog). I've missed all the drama here.

Aldege - Tam and I have loved every moment, every phase, of being parents. The three of us are very close even with Alex away at college and every extra day we get to have to be together is a blessing - Thanks!

Ruby, I apologize for the confusion but John is right - As real as Holmes and Watson feel to us fans, they are still only the incredible invention of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I haven't seen that new show yet but I've heard good reviews.

Great puzzle, Dave, and wonderful description! When I was younger I absolutely devoured every Sherlock Holmes book I could get my hands on...you've reminded me that I need to re-read some of those classics!

Is this a syringe, a magnifying glass, and a pipe?

Just so, Adam. The business end if the syringe is slightly enlarged by the magnifying glass. The syringe resembles a more modern style than the type that would've been used by Holmes (stainless steel body with glass barrel insert) but I opted for simplicity here.

I was going to "light" the pipe but decided smoke would make the image hazy so I left the shag tobacco still in the toe of his Persian slipper hanging by the mantle.

I don't remember the cocaine use, but I do remember his trips to the opium den. Of course, I haven't read all of the stories; just 4 books' worth. :)

Kristen, to the best of my recollection, Holmes never did use opium, only morphine and cocain (a 7% solution). I think that whenever he would visit an opium den, as he did in The Crooked Man, it was for a legimate reason like obtaining information or tailing a suspect. I don't believe anyone other than Watson ever witnessed Holmes indulging himself, and then only in the privacy of their flat at 221b Baker St.

Like Tonia, it's been awhile since I've read the stories so I could be forgetting some of the details but my impression is that Holmes was never really comfortable with his drug use and kept it to himself.

Excellent puzzle, Dave. Thanks also for sharing your personal story. Fascinating thread.

Thanks Teresa! I'm like you - I love how you can't predict the direction these comments will sometimes take.

Great puzzle Dave! I've read most of Sherlock Holmes' books. I am watching the new "Elementary" series now. In it, a modern Sherlock Holmes is a former heroine addict who needs a companion or therapist - Joan Watson, a woman.
I was just yesterday (while watching the show) talking to my husband about a book called "the seven per cent solution" by Nicholas Meyer. In it, Sherlock Holmes recovers from his cocaine addiction with the help of Sigmund Freud.

Thank you Claudia. I have yet to watch Elementary but since both you and Ruby give it your recommendations I'm really going to have to check it out.

I've heard of The Seven Percent Solution but never read it - I didn't even know it was about SH. I'm now adding that book to my reading list - Thanks for the tip!

Unpublished by khpdave

Republished without change by khpdave

Watch SHERLOCK with Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman!!!

Fabulous series (which, incidentally, includes Holmes' drug addiction)!

I love the Benedict Cumberbatch version as well as the TV series ELEMENTARY. then there are the movies with Robert Downey Jr.

What a poignant story to go with the puzzle. For many of us addiction of one sort or another haunts our families.
I am glad stories do include the challenges of overcoming such addictions.
It is also a struggle for those of us who are parents if we tell children not to smoke, not to drink ... and they see family members doing so.

Reading these comments reminds me how much I like each and every one of you. I share your love of Holmes, Dave...I especially found it interesting when I read the true back story of how this great detective came to be. Lol I feel Doyle was one of us....

Your story about your son touched my heartstrings, Dave. What an example he has in you when, someday, he has to make a difficult choice.

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