Brompton cocktail

Brompton cocktail — sometimes called a Brompton mixture, Brompton's cocktail — is an elixir meant for use as a pain suppressant, and dosed for . 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. A common formulation included "a variable amount of morphine, 10 mg of cocaine, 2.5 mL of 98% ethyl alcohol, 5 mL of syrup BP and a variable amount of chloroform water."

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.

The Brompton cocktail is named after the Royal Brompton Hospital in London, England, where it was invented in the late 1920s for patients with cancer. While its use has been rare in the 21st century, it is not entirely unheard of today. It was far more common in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Some specifications for variants of Brompton Mixture call for methadone, hydromorphone, diamorphine (heroin), or other strong opioids in the place of morphine; diphenhydramine or tincture of cannabis in place of the chlorpromazine; and/or methamphetamine, amphetamine, dextroamphetamine, co-phenylcaine (lignocaine & phenylephrine hydrochloride), methylphenidate or other stimulants in the place of cocaine. The original recipe for Brompton Mixture also calls for chloroform, cherry syrup to help mask the bitter taste of some of the components, and distilled water in some quantity to dilute the chloroform (hence, chloroform water) and/or to add volume to allow for more precise titration of doses.

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