Medicinal Poe

So I have realized that I have made myself the resident medical guru of the class--which was totally unintentional but well, it's what I know. Ergo, you guys get to read a medical post. Kind of. This concerns Poe's A Tale of the Ragged Mountain. I basically found it slightly strange that the main character was not only given morphine to take for pain (I am used to this being administered in hospitals under strict supervision--though I realize that this is now and more than likely during the then, morphine was not as strictly supervised). What really struck me was that he was able to leave the house and wander into the woods while basically high off of it. From someone who has had surgeries and required the medicine, I can attest that it is extremely difficult to think let alone move when on morphine. But, this is a story and such things are allowed to happen. Besides, he could have always been taking a low doseage--who knows. What concerned me was his adventures on the mountain. I want to know if describing what it is like to be high off of morphine is what Poe wanted the reader to experience--and if so, did Poe ever have to take the drug in his lifetime? I know he was an alcoholic but never heard anthing about him using drugs like morphine--maybe I am putting my foot in my mouth with this post but the entire time reading Agustus' adventure made me wonder--how could Poe know what it would feel like to be on morphine? I guess my main question is what was Poe's goal with this story because I'm at a loss. Then again, I could have simply gotten lost in my own little world of medicine and missed the entire story. Like I said, this blog could result in me opening my mouth and inserting my foot during class tomorrow should we discuss this but, I felt the need to blog it any how. Thanks for reading my lil ramble guys!