Dominique:
Another possible source of info.:
I see from today's Cambridge University Press History of Science booklist
that my old history of geology colleague turned medical history "guru"
Prof. Roy Porter has just edited (jointly with Mikulas Teich) "Drugs and
Narcotics in History" (C.U.P. 1997, ISBN: 0-521-58597-X, UK pounds #12.95
in paperback).
This likely to be extremely good as Roy and Mikulas invariably gather in
outstanding specialist authors (even me in the case of Roy's October
history of geology volume!) for their respective ventures. CUP's "blurb"
concludes: "In these circumstances the status of drugs has often been
highly contentious and many of the boundary lines between use and abuse
remain unresolved today".
Sounds just your thing!
Patrick Boylan