Dictionary definition of “chemical cosh”

chemical cosh

n. a drug or mix of drugs used to subdue a patient, prisoner, or other person. Subjects: English, United Kingdom, Drugs, Health, Medical

Editorial Note: From comparison to the stunning or dulling effects of a cosh, “a thick heavy stick or bar used as a weapon,” when used on the head.

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Citations: 1985 Ron Lacey Guardian (United Kingdom) (Mar. 20) “Society Tomorrow: When short term tranquility turns to lasting tyranny”: These drugs can make people more manageable and less demanding. They have been implicated in the torture of prisoners in Soviet psychiatric prisons. Allegations concerning their use as the “chemical cosh” continues to emerge from British prisons. Most worrying of all, perhaps, is their routine use for the management and control of people with mental handicaps. 1992 Thomson Prentice Times (London, United Kingdom) (Feb. 13) “How a prince promotes medical treatment for the whole man”: Treatments of mental and physical illnesses were spiritual tasks, not merely matters for medical repair, the prince said. Psychiatrists should resort less often to the “chemical cosh” of drugs. 2006 Naomi Canton Norwich Evening News (United Kingdom) (Aug. 21) “Are children being given too many drugs”: DHD is a highly controversial psychiatric condition that’s never been scientifically proven. The drugs, commonly known as the “chemical cosh,” are a mental health ASBO, where children are being given chemical restraints to curb poor behaviour.

Posted 30 Aug 06 | Permalink | Tell a Friend

Reader comments:

I have another citation for you for “chemical cosh.” It’s the title of a song by the alternative band Fatima Mansions, from their 1991 album “Viva Dead Ponies.”

Lyrics:

Alcohol, heroin, thc
Care in the impotent (numb) community*
Resignation, irony, under scrutiny, so events can slip
From memory of history, a voluntary dictatorship

Chemical (cosh!)

One kind for the rich, and one for the poor
The only distinction is the thickness of their front door
Unless it makes you act up, the law won’t mind
You play this game, the land is yours, the warden is blind

Chemical (cosh!)
Chemical (cosh!)
It’s the only kind we got (cosh!)
If you won’t come across

They will have it known you’re mad if you don’t fit (with) their equation
They will have you for not being rich or body-tax evasion
And they’ll pay some stoned stockbroker’s son
To phone and say, I’m coming ‘round and bringing my machine gun!

Chemical (cosh!)
Chemical (cosh!)
It’s a stab in the neck and a boot in the chops
From the earth-loving decade which denim forgot

* a reference to Care in the Community, a (UK) Tory plan to reduce health care spending on mental hospital patients by cutting them adrift. This caused much controversy a few years back.

by Katherine Hall 01 Sep 06, 1203 GMT