List of notable drug culture figures

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The list of notable drug culture figures comprises persons who are well-known specifically from their use, research into or advocacy of non-medicinal, psychoactive drugs. It is not a list of notable people who have used drugs.

Contents

[edit] Actors

[edit] Artists

  • Alex Grey - Artist specializing in spiritual and psychedelic art. He has spoken openly about his LSD use.
  • Peter Max - Pop artist whose work has reflected the aesthetic of LSD use.
  • Ralph Steadman - pen-and-ink and paint artist who illustrated Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and several other books by Hunter S. Thompson, as well as some similar art for beer bottle labels. His illustrations are much appreciated by members of the 'drug subculture' in North America. Among the British public, Steadman is well-known for his illustrations for the catalogues of the off-licence chain Oddbins.

[edit] Athletes

[edit] Researchers and Scientists

  • Richard Alpert - (aka Ram Dass) Worked with Timothy Leary while at Harvard.
  • Susan Blackmore - British psychologist wrote "I can honestly say that without cannabis, most of my scientific research would never have been done and most of my books on psychology and evolution would not have been written." [1]
  • Stanislav Grof - Worked extensively with psychotherapeutic uses of LSD.
  • Albert Hofmann - The Swiss chemist who first synthesized LSD.
  • Timothy Leary - As a researcher at Harvard University, conducted experiments on the use of psilocybin and LSD. He was fired from his job, but became the best-known advocate for LSD use.
  • John C. Lilly - Psychoanalyst who invented the isolation tank to study the effect of sensory deprivation on consciousness. He conducted numerous experiments involving psychedelics such as LSD and ketamine.
  • Dennis McKenna - Coauthored books with his brother, Terrence McKenna, investigated the botany and chemistry of ayahuasca
  • David Nichols - Pharmacologist at Purdue University, studies the neurochemistry of psychoactive drugs
  • Victor Robinson - Took and administered hashish many times and wrote about his experiences for a medical audience.
  • Nicholas Sand - Underground chemist who synthesized large quantities of LSD and other substances.
  • Richard Evans Schultes - Pioneering ethnobotanist, worked extensively with psychoactive plants.
  • Alexander Shulgin - Also known as "Dr. Ecstasy", Shulgin was a lecturer at the University of California at Berkeley, a biochemist and former National Institutes of Health consultant. He acknowledges having more than 4,000 psychedelic experiences in his life. In 1976, using a formula from a 1912 chemistry text, he synthesized the drug MDMA and provided it to a psychotherapist.
  • Huston Smith - Scholar of religion who has studied the relationship between religious experiences and drug induced mystical experiences.
  • Owsley Stanley - The first underground chemist to produce LSD. He was arrested with several hundred thousand doses which he claimed was for personal use.
  • Paul Stamets - Famous mycologist and environmentalist with a particular interest in psilocybin mushrooms.
  • Rick Strassman - Psychedelic researcher and author of DMT: The Spirit Molecule.
  • R. Gordon Wasson - Brought the use indigenous use of Psilocybe mushrooms in Mexico to wider attention. Proposed that the soma of the Rig Vedas referred to Amanita muscaria.

[edit] Musicians

Although many popular musicians have used drugs or suffered from the effects of drugs, this list only covers those for whom drug use has become a significant part of their public persona.

  • 1200 Mics - A psytrance group that released a drug themed album where every track represented a different substance. Their name is in reference to a high LSD dose.
  • The Allman Brothers Band - The magic mushroom is a sort of unofficial logo for the band and its members, past and present. Most of their album, t-shirt and on-stage artwork contains some design of a magic mushroom on it. Dedicated fans of the band are also known as "shroomheads" because of the band's apparent fondness for magic mushrooms.
  • Syd Barrett, late founder member of Pink Floyd.
  • Cypress Hill - American hip hop group whose better-known songs include "Everybody Must Get Stoned" and "Hits From The Bong". They often perform with large representations of Cannabis leaves and cannabis-related paraphernalia on-stage.
  • Grateful Dead - San Francisco based musicians whose tours are strongly associated with the use of LSD, magic mushrooms and cannabis by their fans. This became such a prevalent part of the Deadhead scene that fans trying to stay drug and alcohol free started the Wharf Rats.
  • Jimi Hendrix - Famous for popularization of "trippy", psychedelic sound. Reportedly soaked headband in LSD before performing, so, when he started to sweat, the drug would pour down his face, and he could ingest it.
  • Jefferson Airplane - San Francisco based band, closely associated with the Grateful Dead, and Owsley Stanley, with such drug-related songs as White Rabbit and Mexico. Singer Grace Slick is said to have planned to lace US President Richard Nixon's tea with LSD when she was inadvertently invited to the Whitehouse by Nixon's daughter. However, her guest, yippie activist Abbie Hoffman was recognised by Secret Service agents and they were both turned away.
  • Kottonmouth Kings - A self-described "rapcore" group whose entire career is based around and dedicated towards the legalization of cannabis.
  • Bob Marley - Reggae musician and Rastafari from Jamaica. His album Catch a Fire shows Marley smoking a large spliff.
  • Method Man - Rapper that is a well known bluntsmoker in the hiphop scene. Songs like "Tical" and "M.E.T.H.O.D. Man" are related to cannabis-cigars (blunts) in the lyrics. He has been known to use PCP, cocaine, LSD, and psychedelic mushrooms.
  • Willie Nelson - Country musician. Known for his cannabis use as shown in movies such as Half Baked.
  • Phish - Jam band often associated with drug use, especially at their live shows. This is such a large part of their persona that there have been organizations founded by fans whose goal is to stop drug and/or "hard drug" use at Phish concerts (Inside Out and The Phellowship).
  • Redman - Rapper that is a well known bluntsmoker in the hiphop scene. Songs like "How To Roll A Blunt" and "A Million And 1 Buddah Spots" are related to cannabis-cigars in the lyrics. He has also mentioned using PCP, ecstasy, and psychedelic mushrooms in his lyrics.
  • The Shamen were notable for their song "Ebeneezer Goode", which was full of clear references to ecstasy and reached #1 in the UK charts for four weeks in 1992.
  • Ska-P - Spanish ska band particularly known for it's song "Cannabis".
  • Sublime - Heavily influenced by cannabis, they have an association with cannabis similar to Bob Marley. Songs include "Smoke Two Joints" and "Let's Go Get Stoned". Also includes songs that mention Brad shooting up heroin, "Pool Shark", and snorting speed, "STP(Secret Tweaker Pad)."
  • Tool - Progressive alt-metal band. They have had close connections with such drug culture figures as Bill Hicks and Alex Grey, and their drummer, Danny Carey, has spoken openly about his DMT use.
  • Peter Tosh - Reggae musician and Rastafari from Jamaica. The title track from his album Legalize It became an anthem for cannabis advocates.
  • The Red Hot Chili Peppers - Wrote a number of drug-related songs like Knock Me Down, My Friends, Scar Tissue and many others.

[edit] Writers

  • Anonymous writer of Go Ask Alice whose autobiography was posthumous, though the authenticity of this book is disputed

[edit] Philosophers and Cultural Theorists

The source for the following list is the book "Culture on drugs: narco-cultural studies of high modernity" by Dave Boothroyd (Manchester University Press, 2006).

  • Walter Benjamin, who experimented with Hashish, opium and mescaline and linked narcotic effects to his theory of the modern condition
  • Michel Foucault who took LSD at Zabriske Point
  • Sigmund Freud, whose earliest work researched the potential medical uses of cocaine by experimenting on himself
  • Jean-Paul Sartre who experimented with mescaline during his phenomenological investigations of mental images and hallucinations

[edit] Organizations

  • NORML - National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

[edit] External links

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