Editing Diethyl ether (section)

=== Recreational abuse ===
{{See also|Ether addiction}}

The recreational use of ether also took place at organised parties in the 19th century called [[History of general anesthesia#Western world|ether frolics]], where guests were encouraged to inhale therapeutic amounts of diethyl ether or [[nitrous oxide]], producing a state of excitation. Long, as well as fellow dentists [[Horace Wells]], William Edward Clarke, and [[William T. G. Morton]], observed that during these gatherings, people would often experience minor injuries but appear to show no reaction to them, nor memory that it had happened, demonstrating ether's anaesthetic effects.<ref>{{Cite web|title=How Ether Went from a Recreational 'Frolic' Drug to the First Surgery Anesthetic|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/ether-went-from-recreational-frolic-drug-first-surgery-anesthetic-180971820/|access-date=2020-10-11|website=Smithsonian Magazine}}</ref>

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, ether drinking was popular among Polish peasants.<ref>{{Cite journal|last = Zandberg | first = Adrian| title = Short Article "Villages … Reek of Ether Vapours": Ether Drinking in Silesia before 1939| journal = Medical History| volume = 54| issue = 3| pages = 387–396| year = 2010| pmid = 20592886| pmc = 2890321| doi =10.1017/s002572730000466x}}</ref> It is a traditional and still relatively popular recreational drug among [[Lemkos]].<ref>{{Cite web| url = http://histmag.org/?id=349| title = Łemkowska Watra w Żdyni 2006 – pilnowanie ognia pamięci| last = Kaszycki| first = Nestor| date = 2006-08-30| work = Histmag.org – historia od podszewki| publisher = i-Press| location = Kraków, Poland| language = pl| access-date = 2009-11-25| quote = Dawniej eteru używało się w lecznictwie do narkozy, ponieważ ma właściwości halucynogenne, a już kilka kropel inhalacji wystarczyło do silnego znieczulenia pacjenta. Jednak eter, jak każda ciecz, może teoretycznie być napojem. Łemkowie tę teorię praktykują. Mimo to, nazywanie skroplonego eteru – "kropki" – ich "napojem narodowym" byłoby przesadą. Chociaż stanowi to pewną część mitu "bycia Łemkiem".
}}</ref> It is usually consumed in a small quantity (''[[wikt:kropka|kropka]]'', or "dot") poured over milk, sugar water, or orange juice in a [[shot glass]]. As a drug, it has been known to cause [[psychological dependence]], sometimes referred to as [[etheromania]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Krenz |first1=Sonia |last2=Zimmermann |first2=Grégoire |last3=Kolly |first3=Stéphane |last4=Zullino |first4=Daniele Fabio |title=Ether: a forgotten addiction |journal=Addiction |date=August 2003 |volume=98 |issue=8 |pages=1167–1168 |doi=10.1046/j.1360-0443.2003.00439.x |pmid=12873252 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/10652053}}</ref>{{medcn|date=April 2020}} 

Ether intoxication is referenced in [[Hunter S. Thompson]]'s ''[[Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas]]'', where in one of the book's most famous quotes, protagonist Raoul Duke declares that "There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than a man in the depths of an ether binge."<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/5237.Hunter_S_Thompson | title=Hunter S. Thompson Quotes (Author of Fear and Loathing in las Vegas)}}</ref>