Liberius Mikulitsyn's cocaine addiction

Liberius Mikulitsyn's cocaine addiction is both a concrete strain on scarce medical supplies and a sign of the contradiction between his political self-justification and his conduct. It is disclosed when requisitioned goods include a jar of cocaine, and later becomes the subject of a direct reprimand from Yurii Andreievich, the doctor whose freedom Liberius refuses to restore.

The drug supply and its discovery

During the renewed fighting, troops requisition supplies from a shop, loading sacks, cases, and bottles into a cart. Among the goods is a whole jar of cocaine, which the narrative identifies as something to which Liberius has recently become addicted. The discovery places his dependence within a setting of material scarcity and mounting medical need: the doctor is already treating typhus in winter, dysentery in summer, and increasing numbers of wounded people.

A doctor’s reprimand

Yurii Andreievich challenges Liberius over his consumption, telling him that he has been depleting the stock entrusted to the doctor. The objection is practical as well as medical: the cocaine is needed for other purposes, and Yurii Andreievich warns that it is poison and that he is responsible for Liberius's health. His insistence exposes the dependence as a breach of the responsibilities governing the camp's medical supplies, not merely a private habit.

Dependence and captivity

The dispute takes place within an unequal relationship. Yurii Andreievich asks to be released so he can search for his family, whose whereabouts and survival are unknown, but Liberius continues to detain him, arguing that it is for the doctor's own good and that he must wait for the war to end. The doctor's appeal for kindness and generosity therefore meets a contradiction: Liberius speaks of moral obligations while denying Yurii Andreievich the freedom to act on the most urgent personal concern in his life.

Repetition and resentment

As Liberius continues explaining and reassuring him, Yurii Andreievich inwardly compares him to a phonograph record, raging that he repeats himself and calling him a drug addict. The recurrence of Liberius's talk and the doctor's mounting hostility make the addiction part of a broader pattern of confinement: the doctor's physical captivity is compounded by the relentless presence of the man who controls it. In this scene, cocaine dependence intensifies their conflict, while Yurii Andreievich's anger registers the cost of being held away from his family.