Updated November 1, 2023 [Disclaimer: This article was originally written before Matthew Perry's death on October 28, 2023, and has since been updated.] Best known for playing Chandler Bing on the popular TV show Friends, Matthew Perry was an award-winning American-Canadian actor. With a career spanning decades, ... Read More
Public Figure Spotlight
How Drugs Took Center Stage in Rockstar Lemmy’s Life and Death
Ian Fraser Kilmister, better known as Lemmy, was an English musician that was the founder, bassist, lead singer and main songwriter for the rock band Motorhead. His gravelly voice has been named as one of the most recognizable in rock, and many musicians look to him as an icon. Lemmy was born in Stoke-on-Trent, a ... Read More
Illegal Prescribing: How Celebrity Doctors Get Away With It
Many people remember President John F. Kennedy as an eloquent speaker and champion of civil rights. What they don't realize is that Kennedy had Addison's disease, a serious medical condition that causes fatigue, dizziness, nausea, and other symptoms. He also underwent spinal fusion surgery in the late 1950s, leaving ... Read More
Clearing the Purple Haze of Jimi Hendrix’s Drug Use
It's no secret that the dawn of the rock and roll scene was soon accompanied by a period of rampant drug use. Although drugs like cocaine were actually featured in many everyday products like Coca-Cola in the 19th century, the widespread abuse of drugs didn't occur until after World War II, especially during the years ... Read More
What Drove Kurt Cobain’s Long Struggle With Heroin?
Kurt Cobain (1967-1994), who died by suicide at the age of 27, exerted a lasting influence on music and culture. As the lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter for the band Nirvana, he introduced Gen Xers and Millennials to a new form of music. “Grunge,” as it came to be called, has inspired rock and alternative bands ... Read More
How Macklemore Revealed He Relapsed
Addiction, or substance use disorder, is a pervasive mental health problem affecting people from every corner of the world. Nearly 21 million Americans have at least one addiction, yet less than 10% of those seek treatment. Alcohol is the most common drug of abuse in the United States, yet, due to its normalized ... Read More
How Louis Armstrong Got Entangled with Weed, Laxatives and the Mob
Louis Armstrong is widely considered one of the greatest musicians of the 20th century. When he was 11 and living in New Orleans, Armstrong was arrested for firing a gun during a New Year's Eve celebration and was sent to the Colored Waif's Home for Boys, where he learned to play the clarinet and, as Armstrong later ... Read More
What Drugs Did Bob Dylan Really Do?
The "golden oldies" age of music may have ended decades ago, but the impact of this often drug-fueled music will live on forever. While it wouldn't surprise many to learn that famous musicians from the 1960s had drug habits, the story of Bob Dylan is a bit more complicated. Once thought to be the most protesting ... Read More
