If he did experiment, he could explain what he learned from the experiment. In the 1970s cocaine was a status symbol for aspiring middle-class sophisticates. It was described as a drug without a downside. The Grateful Dead wore spoons around their necks and peddlers worked the crowds selling paraphernalia to their fans. The National Institute on Drug Abuse concluded that cocaine was not a problem drug with serious personal or social consequences when snorted recreationally.
Contemporary acceptance is instructive.
It vividly shows the confusion in the popular culture of the dangers of cocaine, dramatically revealing the scientific community, which regards itself as immune to emotion and popular opinion, as co-opted by the pop culture. When the middle-class cokenoses suffered in the shadows of the dark side of cocaine, glamour died. The drug cartels and their pushers needed another source of customers. They discovered crack cocaine, a cheaper and more deadly drug, and they made the marketing decision to seek customers in the inner city, creating an addiction for a drug that worked much faster than cocaine. Things did not go better with crack.