Before better analgesics were available it was used for pain management. Of course getting your gangrenous leg with a musket ball in it sawed off while blind dr

Before better analgesics were available it was used for pain management. Of course getting your gangrenous leg with a musket ball in it sawed off while blind drunk wasn’t a huge improvement, but evidently it was better than doing it sober. Incidentally some modern analgesics have oddly similar effects. I came out of a minor procedure once and for about 10 minutes had markedly lowered inhibitions. I said pretty much whatever came to mind. Thankfully it was nothing awful, but still definitely had that not quite in control feeling.