Famous / Historic Addicts

[pharmboy]

Hi everybody. I was just reading this book that says Benjamin Franklin
was an opium addict. And he lived to be 84, pretty good for those days!
Just goes to show what distinguished company we keep.
I was wondering how many other historic / famous people who were
morphine / opium addicts we could come up with? Anybody know a
historic addict?:rolleyes:

[Synack]

Nick, DV and WooWoo (and many that I didn't include) - are all historic addicts in my book...

[chopstix]

I thought I read that DV was ~ 26. That would make him about 6 when I did my first shot and I know I ain't no oldtimer - I still get carded.

No offense DV ;)

[Dan Steely]

I thought I read that DV was ~ 26. That would make him about 6 when I did my first shot and I know I ain't no oldtimer - I still get carded.

No offense DV ;)

I'm pretty sure he said he was 26 and a half.

[NastyZilla]

I ought to go to Wikipedia and confirm this, but I'm too damn lazy. I'm fairly certain that all of the "Romantic" poets were frequent users of opium/laudanum although I don't know who qualified as an "addict". Shelly, Keats, Coleridge, Byron, Blake (before the Romantic poets by a bit), Wordsworth (actually, Wordsworth may have been the only clean one? or the cleanest? Shit, it's been a long time since college). Most were drunks. From the US, Edgar Allan Poe liked to dabble with opiates a bit, and was also quite the drunk.

[chopstix]

I'm pretty sure he said he was 26 and a half.

Quite possible that it's been 6 mos since I read that so it could even be 27 by now.

Whens you b'day DV??

[AWOL]

Quite possible that it's been 6 mos since I read that so it could even be 27 by now.

Whens you b'day DV?? can't speak for dv, but I stopped counting after 21 amigo
care to potentiate? :drink:

[Duckfeet]

DV's back, too, floatin around here somewhere :-)
-----
I mean we know the literary types were often opium/laudunum addicts...my take is that probably a lot more people were addicts, but it was seen as kind of a weakness. I used to read about Ezra Pound...and when Hemingway would write about him he'd always portray him as a cool old guy...except for his weakness for opium...Hemingway, of course, world class alkie, but that wasn't seen the same way...Once they *criminalized* drug use, it then became cool, and blues/jazz musicians took it up, and along came all the famous writers that liked it, quick to mind were William Burroughs, and, to one degree or another, all those beat types. Writers all over the place. The romantic poets were mentioned.....I'd like to know who else myself, back before world got hard on dope, a man got old, he could go just about anywhere to Chinatown, smoke a good opium pipe...sigh...


Quite possible that it's been 6 mos since I read that so it could even be 27 by now.

Whens you b'day DV??

[AWOL]

but that wasn't seen the same way...Once they *criminalized* drug use, it then became cool, and blues/jazz musicians took it up, and along came all the famous writers that liked it

I could be a jazz musician, or witter, or whater.

In fact it sounds kinda hip.

Hell yeah.

Self improvement is masturbation. Self destruction might be the answer.

Tyler?

[chopstix]

can't speak for dv, but I stopped counting after 21 amigo
care to potentiate? :drink:

Word

[IceCold]

I can't believe that no one has mentioned Thomas De Quincey he was another famous opium addict writer.

[nick]

I can't believe you guys forgot Devilsdrug.

Oh and DF bro,I'm very fond of Ezra(the cantos),but his nazi streak kinda puts me off.

[Duckfeet]

Oh yer rite of course. He was certainly anti-jewish, tho I think he was used, and didn't realize the extent of the fury that would follow the discovery of the camps...well, that "fury" was too little, too late, now I think about it...we were kind of inactive about doing anything except go tsk tsk....When I read up on that a bit, when they had him all locked up in the nuthouse over here, I gotta be honest tho, that I felt a little sorry for the old guy. He just didn't seem to be all there...kind of addled and stuff. Sadly, there are a lot more like him now, and a lot more unforgivable...

I only know one poem of Ezra's, knocked me for a loop...u probably remember it, about the old guy who missed war, hated the stink of peace, wish I could remember it, heavy poem....

Interesting to me was always Bukowski's periodic reference to Ezra, usually with dislike, but I think Ezra was more famous--like Gertrude Stein--for having helped other artists, both with their work, and just with food and friendship. Hemingway, on the other hand, always seemed a little famous, for not giving much credit to these people...tho when I read Stein, I can see where H's sentence structure, and unwillingness to use comma comes from...fascinating times tho...never been to Paris, or London, far as that goes...been to Tangier tho :-) already a junky, I took leave from Vietnam there....


I can't believe you guys forgot Devilsdrug.

Oh and DF bro,I'm very fond of Ezra(the cantos),but his nazi streak kinda puts me off.

[GoddessofRATs]

Here, look at this.. pretty interesting:

http://www.erowid.org/culture/characters/characters_drug_use.shtml

Goddessofrats

[djnarkotik]

hermann goring was a morphine addict. (not sure of spelling). he was a nazi commmander right under the furher himself.

[NastyZilla]

My very favorite line from all poetry, ever:

"...malt does more than Milton can, to justify God's ways to man..."
a.e.housman

I'll drink to that!, as Devia...um ... DV .. um.. whoever... would say. ;)

[AGV10]

Actually it was codiene - but thats a minor point - a narcotic is a narcotic is a natcotic, and he conusmed huge quantities on a daily basis.

When he surrendered he had a suitcase full of codeine pills. He was taking 48 x 250mg pills a day!!

He was weened off it the stuff over a period of 3 months by way of giving him one less pill every second day.

Hitler was aware of his addiction. the story behind the developement of methadone ties in with Hitlers desire to get Goering off his addiction. Perhaps someone else can comment on the details, but thats the basics of it.

[Duckfeet]

Aren't they the guys that invented methadone, too...I know the urban myth about it being named after Adolph H is bullshit, but I do think it was invented by Nazis...I don't remember any of them doing it though...


Actually it was codiene - but thats a minor point - a narcotic is a narcotic is a natcotic, and he conusmed huge quantities on a daily basis.

When he surrendered he had a suitcase full of codeine pills. He was taking 48 x 250mg pills a day!!

He was weened off it the stuff over a period of 3 months by way of giving him one less pill every second day.

Hitler was aware of his addiction. the story behind the developement of methadone ties in with Hitlers desire to get Goering off his addiction. Perhaps someone else can comment on the details, but thats the basics of it.

[tui]

The astronomer Edmond Halley, (Halley's Comet was named after him)
was as passionate about space... as he was about opium.

t

[oxydose]

The astronomer Edmond Halley, (Halley's Comet was named after him)
was as passionate about space... as he was about opium.

t

wow no shit? I was watching the History channel the other nite and it was taking about Halley's comet and how they think it was part of the original makeup of what became Earth. The shows called The Universe, good series I really recommend it for any other History Channelophiles out there, I know I'm not alone.


How about Iggy Pop? I know the musician heroin addict thing is pretty universal but I find the Stooges shit pretty interesting music, I liken it to a early Nirvana in the style, might sound crazy to some but thats how I think it out. I am only 22 though so many of the old heads out there who was around in 77-79 may think I'm just one of those crazy youngsters, with there "Dunks" and all.

but yeah, Iggy & The Stooges. Well maybe not the Stooges, but Iggy supposively(sp?) really liked his dope.

yeah if that didnt make a lot of sence, i'm drunk and Done'd out today, feelin pretty damn good for a change!

[djnarkotik]

Actually it was codiene - but thats a minor point - a narcotic is a narcotic is a natcotic, and he conusmed huge quantities on a daily basis.

When he surrendered he had a suitcase full of codeine pills. He was taking 48 x 250mg pills a day!!

He was weened off it the stuff over a period of 3 months by way of giving him one less pill every second day.

Hitler was aware of his addiction. the story behind the developement of methadone ties in with Hitlers desire to get Goering off his addiction. Perhaps someone else can comment on the details, but thats the basics of it.

im pretty sure it was morphine. he was in the hospital and got treated for serious wounds where he was treated with morphine, thats how he got his addiction. they used morphine alot back then im sure it wasnt hard for him to get. so if he could get morphine im pretty sure he wasnt just doing codeine.

[robojunkie]

There are many, since the musicians and writers are already covered I'll just list one, probably not known by many: William Halstead. As in a doctor, addicted to morphine for about 40 years. In that 40 years he cofounded Johns Hopkins Med School, one the most well regarded, made many advances in all types of surgical techniques and is generally thought of as "the father of modern surgery". His techniques and methods are usually seen as the dividing line between the primitive infection ridden "surgery" of the 19th century and before and the effective clean surgery of the late 19th and 20th centuries. I'm not a doctor or med student but I've read enough about the guys story to know he is one of the most important doctors in the history of medicine, most important in the history of surgery. However he had to keep his habit a secret, only one other cofounder knew. However he kept a journal (or the other cofounder did, I don't remember) and when he died he left instructions for his "secret" to be spilled at some anniversary of his death. This came in 1969 I believe, at some academia event where his secret journal was read for the first time to many of the faculty. Needless to say they were shocked and amazed that from the beginning until the end of his career (and life) he was completely hooked on morphine!

[Woowoo]

Hi everybody. I was just reading this book that says Benjamin Franklin was an opium addict.
No kidding? I've never heard that in my life, and I have read a lot about Franklin. I knew that he was a liquor-drinking whoremonger, but never that he indulged in opium.
Nick, DV and WooWoo (and many that I didn't include) - are all historic addicts in my book...
Awwww man, thanks a lot. All addicts forge their little place in history. Of course you could have named a hundred other people, but you named lil ole me! That's so kind of you.

[RangerXLT8]

Adolf Hitler was addicted to meth and morphine.

[BLOODY]

nick,how did u manage 2 git into diamorphprogram and is it still possible?u from U.K. right? i remember those physeptone amps on a holiday.still possi to get diconal witout bein terminally sick?for a foreigner? answer would be greatly appreciated
BLOODY

[jayemp420]

well this ones sort of obvious but kurt cobain. <3 Nirvana

[ProdigalSon]

Hell Id bet an amazing percentage before it was made illegal

[kyuss]

Arthur Rimbaud
Edgar Allen Poe
Freud was a cokehead for awhile

[pharmboy]

Billionair and father of most satellites that
are in orbit now and DirecTV Howard Hughs.

Took tons of Valium and codine every day
also had bad compulsive issues.

[betmylife]

Every Punk Rock Legend from 1976-1980+.....Lou Reed, John Cale, Johnny Thunders, Jerry Nolan, Dee Dee Ramone, Sid Vicous, Richard Hell, Stiv Bators, Cheetah Chrome, Tim Armstrong, and the list goes on....most of em are dead now.....most died from overdose....you have to wonder whether that stuff is accidental or not.....oh yah, plus that guy from Sublime......Also before 1914 something like 25% of housewives were addicted to some form of opiate.....hmmm who else, Jerry Stahl the sitcom writer(hence the movie Permanent Midnight)......plus no one has mentioned Ray Charles....who was an avid heroin addict throughout his career, and only quit because he would have gone to jail if he didn't....now thats an amazing story, I blind addict who maintained his addiction for more than 20 years....if any more come to mind Ill let you know...peace


BML

[wafflehead77]

Miles Davis, Stan Getz, Thelonious Monk (I think), Jerry Garcia, John Kahn (only relevant for the JGB fans here)

Sigmund Freud commited suicide with heroin and morphine.

Harold Shipman, not really known for his use, but he was a doctor in the UK who killed like 200 patients via diamorphine injection.

[AGV10]

Waffle head77

Just by way of interest - Shipman is (was) noted in his BMC (British Medical Council) file as a narcotic user and underwent treatment twice in the 1970's. while practising medicine.

The suspicion is that he used the stuff on and off throughout his working life. Although the amount of the stuff he used for himself (as opposed to "treating" his patients) has never being established. He was offered treatment after being arrested and declined - and did not go cold turkey - so perhaps he was not using at that particular point in time.

There is a statistic somewhere drawn form what medcil records could be collated from his practise, which showed him to be one of the highest "prescribers" of Dia/morphine in the country. Not suprizing of course, but it was noted because none of procedures in place at the time actualy raised the red flag it should have.

Of course since as most UK people will know, the whole issue of GP's prescribing narcotics has being subject to a huge overall. The pendulum has swung so far over to the right that many of those who did use or get through GP's (legit or otherwise), now find it easier oddly enough, to source on the black market i.e. suggesting the review has done nothing to solve the problem.

Any government which thinks it can control the use/flow of narcotics in it's society is off it's head. The more restrictive they make acces to the stuff the more they drive it underground and cause a whole host of secondary problems to arise which are far worse.

Nuf' said - Ive gone off the point .......

AGV10

[Narkotikon]

Elizabeth Barret Browning and her husband were opium addicts, then progressed to morphine. God love the Romantics of the 19th century.

[kazman32]

Edgar Allen Poe was a opiate addict as well.(morphine? or opium?)

[wafflehead77]

Waffle head77

Just by way of interest - Shipman is (was) noted in his BMC (British Medical Council) file as a narcotic user and underwent treatment twice in the 1970's. while practising medicine.

The suspicion is that he used the stuff on and off throughout his working life. Although the amount of the stuff he used for himself (as opposed to "treating" his patients) has never being established. He was offered treatment after being arrested and declined - and did not go cold turkey - so perhaps he was not using at that particular point in time.

There is a statistic somewhere drawn form what medcil records could be collated from his practise, which showed him to be one of the highest "prescribers" of Dia/morphine in the country. Not suprizing of course, but it was noted because none of procedures in place at the time actualy raised the red flag it should have.

Of course since as most UK people will know, the whole issue of GP's prescribing narcotics has being subject to a huge overall. The pendulum has swung so far over to the right that many of those who did use or get through GP's (legit or otherwise), now find it easier oddly enough, to source on the black market i.e. suggesting the review has done nothing to solve the problem.

Any government which thinks it can control the use/flow of narcotics in it's society is off it's head. The more restrictive they make acces to the stuff the more they drive it underground and cause a whole host of secondary problems to arise which are far worse.

Nuf' said - Ive gone off the point .......

AGV10
I agree. I know he was a user, but I was just pointing out his use on others. It seems like this is what made hime "famous".

[AGV10]

Fair enough

I'f I am not mistaken I think the figure in the early 20's was something like 1 in every 3 American housewives was using opium/morphine on a regular basis as a "pick me up" - before it was legislated out and became a controlled substance.

As Al Capone once said, "It doesn't discriminate", meaning social-economic background, upbringing, educational, class, color, it made no differance, morphine would get you if you abused it.


How true those words were and remain to this day.

AGV10

[jayemp420]

hitler had his own problems. 2 shots in his buttocks daily of methamphetamine. thats why he was such a shaky mofo by the time he was like 30 something. and the nazis invented methadone too. goooo nazis, you amphetamine loving methadone creating jewish killing sons a bitches. :OD

[southernbelle]

That isn't funny, Jay. :mad:

[chopstix]

hitler had his own problems. 2 shots in his buttocks daily of methamphetamine. thats why he was such a shaky mofo by the time he was like 30 something. and the nazis invented methadone too. goooo nazis, you amphetamine loving methadone creating jewish killing sons a bitches. :OD

WTF??

[chopstix]

Looks like Owen Wilson just made the list of junky hollywood actors; outed by Courtney Love - how ironic is that?? Guess she's on the high horse these days, no pun intended..

[southernbelle]

What's his doc? Enquiring minds want to know....

[chopstix]

It's all over the news right now, apparently coke and smack. Hey Owen, you post here??

Sad really, the guy is funny and a really good actor.. I still can't believe Courteney Love outed him, that's pretty funny..

[underide]

hitler had his own problems. 2 shots in his buttocks daily of methamphetamine. thats why he was such a shaky mofo by the time he was like 30 something.
OD

Hitler was shaking by the time he was 30!?
How about in his 50s?

He wasnt even known to anyone in germany when he was 30.
He only came to power when he was in his 40s.
And he was shaking because of Parkinson's disease, not amphetamine use.

Do your research chica

[underide]

by all accounts it was intravenous amphetamine injections,
not into his buttocks dudoh

[robojunkie]

It started with lozenges including meth and all sorts of random herbal shit and worked its way up to his morning "miracle injection". And to be truthful no one really knows why he was twitchy at the end: Parkinson's, nerve damage from Valkyrie, lots and lots of meth, knowing he fucked up big time and that 3 years prior he was by far the most powerful man on earth who could kill anyone at the drop of a hat and that in a few short months at the most he'd die an undignified death in a stinky moldy bomb shelter, and knowing (he must have) that it was him who had fucked it up for himself, not the Jews or his generals or any other excuses he made in his "will".

Point is, he's dead. And ain't no one gonna clone him. Though he does have a couple of nephews still alive in America, different names and they stay far from the public eye.

[SurfRat]

Charles Baudelaire and Jean Cocteau.

Howard Hughes was addicted to injecting codeine. (!)

Lenny Bruce

[bronyraur]

hitler had his own problems. 2 shots in his buttocks daily of methamphetamine. thats why he was such a shaky mofo by the time he was like 30 something. and the nazis invented methadone too. goooo nazis, you amphetamine loving methadone creating jewish killing sons a bitches. :OD

you just had to put that in there, didn't you?

what an asshole.

[OxyContinuously]

hitler had his own problems. 2 shots in his buttocks daily of methamphetamine. thats why he was such a shaky mofo by the time he was like 30 something. and the nazis invented methadone too. goooo nazis, you amphetamine loving methadone creating jewish killing sons a bitches. :OD


not all German people are like that; in fact the vast majority are NOT...let's be real here.

[bronyraur]

not all German people are like that; in fact the vast majority are NOT...let's be real here.

yeah, that's what should emphasized here, not what OpioNoMo Jayemp said, whether he was being sarcastic or not.

[Inspektahdek]

im pretty sure it was morphine. he was in the hospital and got treated for serious wounds where he was treated with morphine, thats how he got his addiction. they used morphine alot back then im sure it wasnt hard for him to get. so if he could get morphine im pretty sure he wasnt just doing codeine.

It was codeine that he was mainly addicted to and that story is completely accurate about what he was caught with, etc.

[GoddessofRATs]

Owen was outed by Courtney? How did she do it, like in an article or interview or something?

Gotta love Courtney and her crazy arse lol

GOR

[Inspektahdek]

not all German people are like that; in fact the vast majority are NOT...let's be real here.


thank you, why is there so much wrong with this world? Religious debacles, greed, racism and stereotypes to name some of the majors.

Do you know alot of people in Europe think that America is the new Reich and alot of people in Europe think that Americans are pure imperialists, killing for resources? I'm not agreeing with this but living in Europe first hand there's alot of negative views towards alot of stuff the US does just like there were negative views with what Germany did a long time ago. People change, people grow to learn

[Duckfeet]

I don't know. I guess people change, but not always for the better, and I don't think they really grow to learn. People are sill killing each other all over the damn place, for believing in the wrong god, for being the wrong color, for growing poppies in the wrong part of Afghanistan...you name it, somebody somewhere is being killed for it. Our technology has produced so much more powerful and more lethal weaponry, and yet we still have the same primitive ideas we had at the beginning of World War I. Everybody is so sure they are right, and (fill in the blank) is the evil bad guy...whether it be Germany, or the Soviet Union, or--now--the U.S. We're top dog, of course we're hated.

I think peace will start at the bottom, but my harsh view is that it will take a world wide nuclear holocaust, and maybe the survivors will try something different....like getting along, but I doubt it. Anybody in a grim mood, might want to read two great books, both by Cormac McCarthy: One is Blood Meridian which shows and explains war (small scale, among cowboys and indians) and why man likes it. The other is his latest, The Road about a man and his son, traveling in a post-nuclear wasteland. They're both fiction, and I'm a McCarthy fan obviously, but I've always felt like he grasped something fundamental about man. Maybe you'lre right, though. I certainly hope I'm wrong.





<snip>

People change, people grow to learn

[JonnyMohawk]

Jim Hogshire goes as a saint in my book.

[oc80tn]

Aren't they the guys that invented methadone, too...I know the urban myth about it being named after Adolph H is bullshit, but I do think it was invented by Nazis...I don't remember any of them doing it though...


The Germans did invent it in the 1930's as a substitute for morphine. A big reason for that was because with war on the horizon, Nazi doctors and scientists were searching for a synthetic narcotic in the fear that they might not have access to papaver somniferum to convert into opium or, far more importantly, morphine.
And you're right, Duckfeet. It was NOT named in honour of Hitler, because if I remember correctly, the Germans called it methadone. It did not pick up the name Dolophine until it was introduced into medical use in the United States in the 1950's.
The only Nazi I know who had a drug addiction was der Fuhrer, Adolph Hitler. I don't think he had any type of opiate or opioid addiction, however. He liked methamphetamine. The Germans were, I believe, the creators of this drug, too. There was something on the History Channel about Hitler receiving daily injections of meth(amphetamine) in the morning to wake up and, I think, in the early afternoon. His personal physician would come to his bedroom in the morning and give him an IV dose of it. Hitler lauded it as a miracle drug as it provided him with energy, a feeling of self-worth and ability and would allow him to remain alert during the day. Well, no shit, dude!
The Nazis also used this drug to the SS. In fact, it received the nickname "German Marching Powder". The meth allowed them to operate on less sleep and made them more aggressive since the Germans were also experimenting with anabolic steroids at this time.

[oc80tn]

Edgar Allen Poe was a opiate addict as well.(morphine? or opium?)


I think it would've been opium because I believe he died before morphine was discovered. I think.

[oc80tn]

Some other famous user/addicts

1. Rush Hudson Limbaugh III : Addicted to hydrocodone and OxyContin. Lost a lot of respect for him over that since he was always saying that addicts should simply be locked up even if they aren't dealers, just users. I'd say that was probably eating him up, however. You know, living that lie? I do have some sympathy for the guy in that respect, but I don't listen to his show nearly as much now.

2. Elvis Presley: Autopsy showed he had fourteen (14) drugs in his system. Elvis is best known for taking amphetamines like dexedrine and barbiturates like placidyl, but Elvis did not discriminate in his DOC. He has purpordetly taken codeine, oxycodone, hydromorphone (Dilaudid) and morphine. It has been argued that he died due to an allergic reaction to codeine, for which he had just received a prescription for a dental procedure. At one point, Elvis was given a prescription for cocaine. A lot of people don't realize that coke is just CII and does have a limited amount of legitimate medical uses, mainly as a dilator and numbing agent for occular and nasal surgery. Elvis had gotten a script for liquid cocaine. He would take long q-tips and soak them with the coke and put them in his nose. Liquid cocaine is essentially pure, with no fillers, so E would get "high as a kite" to quote the rock band "Survivor".
Elvis could basically get any drug he wanted. He had a little black book of doctors willing to write him any drug he wanted. When you're Elvis, getting Dilaudid or amphetamines is as easy as asking for a fried peanut butter 'nana sammich!

[underide]

........ methamphetamine. The Germans were, I believe, the creators of this drug, too.

Not really.
Methamphetamine was first synthesized in Japan at the end of the 19th century, way before methadone was synthesized in Germany

[oc80tn]

Sorry, you're right it was Japan. My apologies. The Germans just really knew how to use the shit back in the 30's and 40's.

[freedomclub]

I think it would've been opium because I believe he died before morphine was discovered. I think.


Laudanaum comes to mind. Of course they aren't all bad however, Germans are the ones who have a word for receiving joy from the sadness of others.