Since the advent of popular song, wherever you draw the starting line, be it Robert Johnsons ‘Crossroads’, Chuck Berry’s Three chord Gibson 12 bar circle. Or even, ‘Rock around the clock’, the fact is writers of popular song, and especially the great writers and players, have used drugs to connect with that creative muse that gave us the soundtrack to the popular music generation. The soundtrack to the civil rights changes around the world.
Keith Richards said it best. “I loved a good high. And if you stay up, you get the songs that everyone else misses because they’re asleep.”
War, children, its just a shot away.

Students of popular music culture know the connection between drugs and the musical process to the extent that the five major categories of mind-altering drugs that fueled the creation and evolution of popular music and jazz are readily identifiable in the composition to a 100% degree of accuracy, such is their recognizable influence.

Of the five popular songwriting began with Cannabis and alcohol. LSD was third to the expanding consciousness party, in the sixties. Opiates, Heroin and later prescription opioids like Fentanyl is the fourth category, evident in possibly every great Jazz recordings written in America from the fifties onwards. And with the affluence of the first generation of pop musicians writing and being paid for hit songs, cocaine and associated amphetamine buzz drugs dominated interest by composers of hits songs, from the seventies onwards. Especially in the East Coast of North America, with an entire genre of Cocaine Rock.

Ian Dury wrote his hit “Sex and drugs and rock and roll” detailing the key to successfully using drugs to develop musicality.

Here’s a little piece of advice
You’re quite welcome it is free
Don’t do nothing that is cut price
You know what that’ll make you be

They will try their tricky device
Trap you with the ordinary
Get your teeth into a small slice
The cake of liberty

Most popular music was written by drug-users and most live shows included a commercial opportunity to sell those same lifestyle-drugs behind the musics’ creation on a large scale. Cheap drugs led to cheap contact with the musical muse and I will go so far as to say, you can hear a sixth element in the drug choice driving the machine-generation composer and that is – Cheap drugs.

Cough medicine. Bad weed. Laxative sold with traces of cocaine as cocaine. And worst of all, crack cocaine, the immediate consequence of the Reagan drug-war driving up the wholesale price of quality cocaine, leading suppliers to increase their profits by decreasing the cocaine content of their product, with a disastrous outcome for the end user. And all those trending pills, home made chemical recipes, made cheap. Sold cheap. Molly. WTF is that? For the bottom socio-economic layer, the worst quality drugs. Mirrored in the music.

The civil liberties and social emancipation arising from the first wave of popular music music that liberated people’s minds, particularly in respect of opposing the right-wing slavery racist culture in America, is inextricably linked with drug use. Creatively and commercially. “Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery. Smoke a pound of weed a day.“

Long haired wordsmiths with messages of freedom and thoughtful accounts of right-wing atrocity very soon became threatening to the racist right wing-religious-regime of the time and drug-laws were an effective article of repression to bring those upstarts to heel. To try and end this emerging anti-fascist anti-racist threat to authoritarian government. The proFa regimes, invariably racist religious right, crushing the liberal wordsmiths and their customers with law.

Idiotic right-wing mindless drug legislation arrived soon after prohibition ended, enabling racist law makers to create a prison system for removing an entire sector of Black and liberal anti-fascist, anti-racists, by legislation enabling arrest and jail. With felony convictions on record ending entire chapters of life for many.

To this day many Blacks are still in jail for smoking weed while the legislators and jailers happily attend concerts by artists who openly use drugs, and often, use drugs themselves whilst benefiting from the jail culture that evolved from the drug laws. Starting with Harry Anslinger in the 20’s and continuing to this day.

Targeting minorities, especially black Americans, with drug charges and harassment was part of Anslinger’s strategy to justify the existence and budget of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. In the post slave owner generation, Anslinger was a special kind of racist-right-wing-religious-retard, known even by the right as a crazy racist in the 1920s.

Anslinger used his racism and his success with seeing racist bills through to actual law, enabling him to target the most high profile Black awarness influencers. Billie Holiday for her song Strange Fruit, criticizing the very practice he admired and recognized as a solution to the ‘Black Problem’, was threatened repeatedly and commanded to cease and desist performance of the song. (Or ELSE.)

In his book The Protectors (1964), Anslinger has a chapter called “Jazz and Junk Don’t Mix” about black jazz musicians; Billie Holiday, whom he had handcuffed on her death bed for drug use and possession, and Charlie Parker, who also used heroin. (Creatively, The very thing that made them rich, made them poor.)

Make no mistake, Anslinger was a religious racist republican runt of a human being. But for his enthusiasm in using drug law to target Black musicians, we would not have drug wars as we know them. It is clear had Harry Anslinger never been born, millions of lives would have been indescribably better. In lists of histories most harmful humans, Harry Anslinger places way above Hitler and Mussolini, whose legacies died with them. Anslingers hateful harm continues to blight lives to this day.

Many of the drug deaths of great musicians are a consequence of drug laws drafted and implemented by right-wing fascist law makers motivated by a racist agenda.

Further below this post is an interesting compilation list of a few drug busts and drug deaths that reveal a flavor of the extent to which drug laws have impacted on musicians, along with some gossipy insight into which drugs were most popular. Major drug users like Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash were at the same time Christian advocates for Jesus.

Drug laws are possibly the most unnecessary crime against humanity of my lifetime. All because Harry Anslinger was going to lose his job with the end of prohibition imminent and with nbo further need for a prohibition task force, the Government-budget for policing prescribed-substances was going to end.

Add to that the opportunity for racist legislators to create new laws targeting Black people and making it easy for right-wing-racist Whites to legally jail them – at which moment – as felons – they became slaves once more. (The Thirteenth Amendment, ratified in 1865, made slavery and involuntary servitude unconstitutional in the United States “except as punishment for crime.”)

It’s a downhill slope for civil liberties since then. Laws that jail drug users simply created a gateway to criminality that has had enormous consequences for every society in which right-wing government has exploited their judiciary to create jobs for right-wing goons to make felons out of drug users. Including many of the world’s leading musicians and composers.

In a seminal moment for me personally,  1987 I met Joe Pass, at Ronnie Scott’s, when Ronnie introduced me to him, knowing my version (A chapter in my book The Emergency Bouzouki Player) of how Joe was a major influence on my own musical career. That this wonderful, gentle super-talented maestro should spend so many years in jail at the height of his musical development just for using opiates formed one of my earliest views on the ironic hypocrisy and injustice that drug-laws represent. And identified for me this entirely unattractive right-wing-religious-racist approach to using legislation to crush liberal thought process. Drug laws enable ProFa to take out Liberals legally.

The biggest problem with drugs is the law.

Despite advances in understanding the need to treat drug abuse as the disease it is and not enable the ongoing racist discrimination that still results in slave ownership of Blacks by white prison labor millionaires, our descent into right-wing-religious-racist authoritarian government looking to walk-back the social advances we have made since the first Black was jailed for smoking cannabis in order that the prohibition budget could continue after the end of prohibition, heralds a new age of musical composition reflecting the drugs used by the writers – and consequently – sold at the live shows by the top acts.  

It’s changed since Dylan introduced the Beatles to weed thinking the repeated lyric in “I want to hold your hand”,  “I can’t hide” was “I get high”.  Lovely.
Imagine; popular music today if Bob had not made them that first joint? (‘It’s easy if your high.’)

People writing music on cannabis produced a more socially conscious, thoughtful genre of music. ‘How many roads must a man walk down. Before you can call him a man?’ Cocaine enabled an added layer of intelligence on top of that cool breeze ‘Blowing in the wind” buzz. And increased the tempo of an average hit considerably. Heroin and other opiates gave us the masters of Jazz. And alcohol sales became a billion-dollar by-product of popular music drawing huge crowds looking to buy drugs and alcohol.  

When I listen to the hits of now, I no longer recognize the drugs used in the writing process. Or the audience sales context. I think the music world is the poorer for it. Once you’ve heard machines processed voices repeating Nigger through auto-tune on the max setting a few hundred times, its as if the creative spark is somehow diminished.

As is the prospect of advancing social upliftment through musical excellence, the way pot smoker Dylan, did, or cocaine fueled generations of Eagles, Dan and Joni fans, finding musical psychoanalysis as a happy outcome. An entire generation advanced self-awareness through music of drug origin, many in lifestyle compatible drug choices of their own. Certainly, the weed has been growing abundantly for as long as man has had the cognitive ability to dry out the bud and inhale via fire. Medicinal use of weed is recorded as far back as the first miracle fictions. And even up until fairly recently, the 19th Century, no drugs were illegal. Cocaine was a sophisticated social aperitif feature at society gatherings, including with Royalty. The urban myth that original recipes of coca cola contained cocaine is in fact the urban myth. Coke had coke.

Drug laws have clearly impacted on the current generation and the music they make as a result. Perhaps the current youngsters drawn to be Pop Stars by reality tv and reality hood deprivation lifestyle cannot afford clean cocaine, or lack the means to learn how to grow weed for free. Whatever cheap and nasty intoxicant they are using, it sounds horrible to my ear. Except Eminem He turned a Vicodin prescription into a most pleasing arrangement of words and machines. Small wonder he became one of the all-time best-selling artists. A good example of drugs being the muse and the music reflecting the drug that enabled it.

Here is a short history of drug busts through the decades of popular music. Including who went to jail or died, and who made millions instead.

(With thanks to Tim Berners Lee and the internet.)

October 15, 1973 The US Supreme Court upholds, by a 7-2 vote, the 1971 FCC directive that bans radio DJs from playing songs that glorify drugs.

April 21, 2016 Prince dies at age 57 after overdosing on what he thought was Fentanyl, bought illegally, and as a result not measured accurately by the user.

January 4, 1986 After a long battle with drug and alcohol addiction, Thin Lizzy’s Phil Lynott dies at age 36

July 23, 2011 Amy Winehouse dies in London of alcohol poisoning at the age of 27. After years of struggle with Heroin addiction.

October 26, 2010 Keith Richards releases his autobiography, Life. His legendary drug use is revealled in some detail. “I loved a good high. And if you stay up, you get the songs that everyone else misses because they’re asleep.”

December 12, 2007 Ike Turner dies of a cocaine overdose in San Marcos, California, at age 76. He was also struggling with emphysema and cardiovascular disease.

June 25, 2009 Fifty-year-old Michael Jackson is found dead in the Los Angeles mansion he is renting. His doctor is injecting him with Propyfol – paid $100,000 a month to administer his drugs.  Michael could not sleep.

June 27, 2002 John Entwistle (age 57), bassist for The Who, dies in a hotel room in Las Vegas, Nevada, from a heart attack triggered by cocaine use. The story includes a hooker in the room at the time.

December 22, 1987 After a night of hard excess with Robbin Crosby of Ratt and Slash, Mötley Crüe bass player Nikki Sixx suffers a drug overdose and his heart stops beating. He is declared clinically dead, but comes back to life.

June 5, 2002 Eleven weeks after being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Dee Dee Ramone, a founding member of the Ramones, dies of a heroin overdose at age 50.

April 5, 2002 Alice In Chains frontman Layne Staley dies after overdosing on heroin and cocaine. The 34-year-old singer had fallen into addiction and lost most contact with the outside world. His body isn’t discovered until two weeks later, when police enter his apartment on April 19 after friends and associates report him missing.

November 27, 2000 Wu-Tang Clan rapper Ol’ Dirty Bastard, on the run after escaping from a drug-rehabilitation center on October 17, is arrested at a Philadelphia McDonald’s when a policewoman recognizes him in the drive-thru lane.

July 11, 1996 The night before a show at Madison Square Garden in New York City, Smashing Pumpkins touring keyboard player Jonathan Melvoin dies at age 34 after injecting heroin with drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, who is fired from the band a few days later (he returns to the fold in 1999). The Sarah McLachlan song “Angel” is inspired by Melvoin’s death.

May 28, 1996 Dave Gahan of Depeche Mode takes a nasty speedball (cocaine and heroin) and goes into cardiac arrest. Medics manage to shock start his heart.  He returns to living mode.

May 25, 1996 Brad Nowell (frontman of Sublime) dies of a heroin overdose at age 28, just one week after marrying Troy Dendekker, the mother of his 11-month-old son, Jakob.

October 21, 1995 Blind Melon lead singer Shannon Hoon dies of a drug overdose at age 28.

May 19, 1993 Depeche Mode begin their Devotional tour in Lille, France. They reach new levels of excess on the trek, culminating with lead singer Dave Gahan having a heart attack during a show.

January 8, 1991 Steve Clark of Def Leppard dies of an accidental drug overdose at age 30.

July 29, 1990 Elton John can’t find a facility in Los Angeles that will treat his complex multiple addictions with cocaine, alcohol, and food, so he checks into the Parkside Lutheran Hospital in Chicago for six weeks, then takes a year off from touring and recording. His creative output post sobriety is very different.

March 19, 1990 Andrew Wood, lead singer of Mother Love Bone, dies of a heroin overdose at age 24. Members of the band go on to form Pearl Jam.

March 28, 1982 On his way to a “no-nukes” rally, David Crosby crashes his car into a divider on the San Diego Freeway. Police find quaaludes, cocaine paraphernalia, and a concealed pistol in the vehicle, but charges against him are plea bargained down to reckless driving and he is sentenced to probation and a $751 fine. A few weeks later he is arrested again, this time for freebasing cocaine.

February 10, 1981 Natalie Cole is trapped in her suite on the 26th floor of the Las Vegas Hilton hotel when it catches fire. Cole is in the room with her bodyguard, former NBA player Nate Bowman, when the fire breaks out. Unable to get help, they wrap themselves in bedcovers they had soaked with water. According to Cole, Bowman professes his love for her at this moment, and suggests they consumate their relationship before they meet their doom. Cole, who is in the throes of a nasty drug habit, replies, “I’d rather get high,” and proceeds to smoke crack cocaine. When she starts lighting up, firemen arrive and force her to leave – she wants to stay and smoke crack. She would later say that refusing help so she could smoke crack was her “rock bottom.”

July 14, 1980 The combustible cocaine couple Glen Campbell and Tanya Tucker open the Republican National Convention in Detroit with a duet of the National Anthem. Campbell later admits they were “higher than the notes we were singing.” Other performers at the convention include Vicki Lawrence, Donny & Marie Osmond, and Pat Boone.

October 12, 1978 Sid Vicious of The Sex Pistols is arrested for the murder of his girlfriend, Nancy Spungen, who he found dead in the bathroom of their hotel room with a stab wound to her abdomen. On February 2, 1979 Vicious, 21, dies of a heroin overdose before he can be tried for the murder. He did it his way.

September 7, 1978 Keith Moon of The Who dies at age 32 after overdosing on medication that is supposed to help him overcome his alcoholism. In the same room at Harry Nilsson’s London flat where Mamma Cass Elliot had died four years previously.

August 16, 1977 The King is dead. Elvis Presley left the building from his home in Graceland as a result of abusing prescription drugs.

October 1, 1976 David Bowie retreats to West Germany in an attempt to clean up his cocaine addiction. While in Germany, Bowie works with Iggy Pop and Brian Eno. The song “Heroes” comes from this stay.

September 19, 1973 Gram Parsons of The Byrds dies at age 26 after taking a shot of liquid morphine in his room at Joshua Tree Inn. Parsons had been recovering from drug and alcohol addiction, but relapsed during his trip to Joshua Tree National Park. “He was clean and took a strong shot,” his friend Keith Richards says. “It’s the one mistake you don’t want to make.”

August 10, 1972 Paul and Linda McCartney are arrested backstage in Gothenburg, Sweden, for possession of six ounces of marijuana, which was mailed to them by someone in McCartney’s office who thought they would like some weed on the road. The couple are released after paying a combined fine of $1,200.

April 20, 1971 Five friends at San Rafael High School in California coin the term “4:20” as a euphemism for smoking pot.
April 20th becomes a popular day to spark one up, as does 4:20 pm.
Note that the Boston song “Smokin’” clocks in at 4 minutes, 20 seconds, and if you multiply the title numbers in Bob Dylan’s “Rainy Day Women #12 And #35,” you get 420. Dude!

November 7, 1970 MGM Records president Mike Curb announces that his label is dumping 18 acts that “exploit and promote hard drugs through music.”

October 4, 1970 Janis Joplin is found dead at the Landmark Hotel in Los Angeles after a heroin overdose. She was 27.

September 18, 1970 Jimi Hendrix is found dead in his basement. He had taken nine pills of the barbiturate Vesparax, that along with alcohol, caused a fatal overdose. He was 27.

February 28, 1968 Frankie Lymon dies of a heroin overdose at age 25.

February 10, 1968 Rolling Stone magazine offers free roach clips to new subscribers.

January 26, 1968 At the University of Southampton, Pink Floyd play their first gig without founding member Syd Barrett, who never returns to the band. The 22-year-old Barrett is an early acid casualty, no longer able to contribute to the group.

August 27, 1967 The Beatles‘ manager Brian Epstein dies of an accidental overdose (Carbitral mixed with alcohol) in London, England, at age 32.

May 20, 1967 Because of the line, “I’d love to turn you on,” the BBC bans The Beatles song “A Day In The Life,” claiming it may promote drug use.

February 12, 1967 Police raid Keith Richards‘ Redlands estate, where they discover “various substances of a suspicious nature” and arrest him along with Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull. In a targeted attack to curb open drug use being promoted by the Rolling Stones example.

June 12, 1966 After buying pot from an undercover cop posing as a student at his high school, Steven Tallarico is arrested and charged with drug possession. He is given a year’s probation and labelled a “Youthful Offender,” which later keeps him from getting drafted. Tallarico later becomes Steven Tyler and forms Aerosmith.

June 11, 1966 Donovan becomes the first rock star busted for drugs by the newly vigilant London drug squad.

August 5, 1962 Marilyn Monroe dies of a barbiturate overdose at age 36 in Brentwood, Los Angeles, California. Musically, she’s known for an iconic performance of “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend.”

May 1, 2013 Chris Kelly of the rap duo Kris Kross dies at age 34 after overdosing on heroin and cocaine. The duo were teenagers when they had their #1 hit “Jump” in 1992; they also opened for Michael Jackson on his Dangerous tour that year.

December 28, 2009 Jimmy “The Rev” Sullivan (drummer and co-lead vocalist for Avenged Sevenfold) dies from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs and alcohol at age 28. The coroner also notes cardiomegaly (an enlarged heart) which may have contributed to his death.

August 28, 2009 Adam “DJ AM” Goldstein dies of what is ruled as an accidental overdose at age 36 in his New York City apartment. This comes nearly a year after AM and his friend Travis Barker survived a fatal plane crash that claimed the lives of four others.

May 24, 2009 Former Wilco guitarist Jay Bennett dies in his sleep from an accidental overdose of a prescription painkiller at age 45.

January 22, 2008 British tabloid The Sun posts video they claim is of Amy Winehouse smoking crack. The 24-year-old singer has been in and out of rehab, and is clearly in ill health. The video was apparently taken by a guest at her home. They tried to make her go to Rehab.

December 4, 2007 Pimp C (real name Charles Lamont Butler) is found dead in a West Hollywood, California, hotel room. The 33-year-old rapper had ingested promethazine and codeine, drugs used in the “purple drank” referred to in many rap songs.

November 19, 2007 Kevin DuBrow (lead vocalist for Quiet Riot) dies of a presumed accidental cocaine overdose at age 52. He is found in his Las Vegas home six days later.

June 1, 2007 Tony Thompson (lead singer of Hi-Five) dies at age 31 after accidentally inhaling a toxic amount of freon.

May 31, 2007 Rob Grill, lead singer of The Grass Roots, is arrested for illegal possession of prescription painkillers at his home in Mount Dora, Florida.

October 11, 2006 Singer Justin Hawkins announces that he has left British band The Darkness to continue his drug rehabilitation.

September 18, 2006 Willie Nelson‘s tour bus is stopped near Lafayette, Louisiana, and Nelson, along with four members of his band, are arrested for possession of marijuana and psychedelic mushrooms.

August 28, 2005 For the second time in two years, Art Garfunkel is arrested for marijuana possession.

August 23, 2005 Bay City Rollers‘ lead singer Les McKeown is arraigned on cocaine possession and distribution charges in London. He is eventually acquitted of the intent to distribute.

November 13, 2004 Ol’ Dirty Bastard (of Wu-Tang Clan), real name Russell Tyrone Jones, dies of a drug overdose at age 35.

May 31, 2004 Rock guitarist Robert Quine, known for collaborations with Lou Reed, Marianne Faithfull, and Tom Waits, commits suicide by heroin overdose at age 61.

March 10, 2004 Dave Blood (bass guitarist for The Dead Milkmen) commits suicide via drug overdose at age 47.

March 6, 2004 David Crosby (of The Byrds, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young) is arrested on marijuana and weapons charges in New York City (he’s given a $5,000 fine and a conditional discharge).

November 5, 2003 Bobby Hatfield (of The Righteous Brothers) dies of a cocaine-induced heart attack at age 63.

June 1, 2003 Slipknot bass player Paul Gray is arrested after colliding with another car in his hometown of Des Moines, Iowa. Gray, who dies from an overdose on May 24, 2010, is charged with possession of marijuana, cocaine and drug paraphernalia, as well drunk-driving.

May 21, 2003 Ike Turner is refused entry into Japan because of a past drug conviction.

May 13, 2003 Tommy Chong of Cheech & Chong pleads guilty to selling drug paraphernalia over the Internet.

October 20, 2002 A man identifying himself as Kid Rock‘s personal assistant is charged with felony and misdemeanor drug possession after a traffic stop on Rock’s tour bus on the Florida Turnpike. Officers find a small amount of cocaine, two marijuana cigarettes, a glass pipe, and rolling papers on Kevin J. McMahon’s person and in his luggage. He is released from jail on $16,000 bond.

May 30, 2002 Diana Ross enters a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center in Los Angeles.

May 13, 2002 Dionne Warwick is arrested at Miami International Airport for possession of marijuana when screeners find 11 marijuana cigarettes inside a lipstick container. Charges are dropped after she does an anti-drug public service announcement.

November 16, 2000 29-year-old rapper DJ Screw (real name: Robert Earl Davis, Jr.) is found dead in a Houston recording studio. The coroner finds large amounts of codeine and other prescription drugs in his system.

August 17, 1999 Derek Longmuir of the Bay City Rollers is arraigned on charges of possession of illegal drugs and child pornography. He is sentenced to 300 hours of community service.

August 14, 1999 Former teen idol Leif Garrett pleads guilty to cocaine possession in Los Angeles and is ordered into rehab.

October 23, 1998 The “White Rabbit” case comes to a close when a court supports the superintendent at Fort Zumwalt High School in St. Louis, and his decision that the marching band cannot play the song in their act as it contains drug references.

September 15, 1998 Coolio is arrested in Lawndale, California, and cited for driving on the wrong side of the road with an expired license. He is also charged with carrying a concealed weapon and possession of marijuana. His trouble with the law doesn’t hurt his TV career, as he makes frequent appearances on shows like Fear Factor and Hollywood Squares.

May 9, 1998 Blues musician Lester Butler dies of a heroin and cocaine overdose at age 38.

April 2, 1998 Robert Pilatus of Milli Vanilli dies at age 32 after overdosing on a combination of drugs and alcohol.

February 6, 1998 Austrian singer-songwriter Falco (Hans Hölzel) dies in a car crash while under the influence of cocaine and alcohol, just two weeks shy of his 41st birthday. (Rock me Amadeus.)

January 21, 1998 James Brown is released from a South Carolina hospital after undergoing treatment for an addiction to painkillers.

November 3, 1997 In Santa Monica, California, Billy Preston is sentenced to three years in prison for cocaine possession and violating parole. Just the way God planned it.

October 15, 1997 Virginia concert promoter Patricia Ann Richardson files suit against Snoop Doggy Dogg, his former manager Sharitha Knight, and Death Row Records for allegedly tricking her into transporting packages containing seven pounds of marijuana to a venue where Snoop Doggy Dogg was performing. Richardson claims she was stopped, searched and arrested by local, state and federal law enforcement officers at the entrance to the club.

September 29, 1997 Blues Traveler bassist Bobby Sheehan is arrested for cocaine possession in Winnipeg. He is later released on $5,000 bond.

October 8, 1996 Jimmy Chamberlin, charged with drum possession, pleads guilty to a lesser charge of disorderly conduct. The Smashing Pumpkins drummer was shooting heroin with touring keyboard player Jonathan Melvoin in July when Melvoin overdosed and died. Chamberlin was fired from the band, but returns in 1999.

August 21, 1996 Rick James gets out of jail after serving two years of a five-year sentence for holding a woman hostage during a drug binge.

August 5, 1996 Soul singer Wilson Pickett checks into a court-ordered rehab for cocaine addiction.

July 22, 1996 Donovan has to cancel a North American tour when he is denied entry to the US because of a 1966 marijuana possession conviction.

April 4, 1996 More trouble for Wilson Pickett, who after serving a one-year jail sentence in 1994 is arrested at his New Jersey home and charged with possession of two grams of cocaine. Still on probation, he enters a rehab center in August.

August 23, 1995 Industrial/techno musician Dwayne Goettel (of Skinny Puppy) dies of a heroin overdose in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, at age 31.

June 30, 1995 Phyllis Hyman commits suicide by drug overdose at age 45. Known for the 1979 hit single “You Know How to Love Me,” among others.

May 15, 1995 Stone Temple Pilots lead singer Scott Weiland is arrested for heroin and cocaine possession outside a motel in Pasadena. It’s the first of his high-profile drug arrests.

September 16, 1994 Producer/singer/songwriter Thomas Kaye (composer for Jay and the Americans, Three Dog Night) dies of an overdose of painkillers in Warwick, New York.

June 16, 1994 Kristen Pfaff (bassist for Hole) dies of acute opiate intoxication at age 27.

June 28, 1993 After repeated threats to kill himself on stage, shock rocker GG Allin dies at age 36 of a heroin overdose following a concert that is cut short due to mayhem.

February 25, 1993 Toy Caldwell (lead guitarist for The Marshall Tucker Band) dies of cocaine-related cardio-respiratory failure at his home in Moore, South Carolina, at age 45.

January 21, 1993 French singer Noël Rota aka Helno (of Les Negresses Vertes) dies of a heroin overdose at age 29.

August 5, 1992 Jeff Porcaro (the legendary LA based drummer) dies of a heart attack from cocaine-induced atherosclerosis at age 38 in Los Angeles, California.

June 27, 1992 Stefanie Sargent of 7 Year Bitch dies at age 24. After a night of drinking and drug use, she chokes to death when she vomits in her sleep.

June 1, 1991 David Ruffin, who sang lead on the The Temptations‘ classics “My Girl” and “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg,” dies from an adverse reaction to cocaine at age 50. Family members suspect foul play when Ruffin’s money belt – which held over $40,000 in proceeds from the group’s tour – turns up empty.

July 26, 1990 Grateful Dead keyboard player Brent Mydland dies of a drug overdose at age 37.

April 12, 1990 James Brown is put on work release after spending months in jail on charges of drug possession and resisting arrest. He makes $3.80/hour counseling youths about drug abuse.

December 1, 1989 Sly Stone (of Sly & the Family Stone) is sentenced to 55 days in jail for driving while under the influence of cocaine.

February 14, 1989 Vincent Crane (organist for Atomic Rooster) dies of an intentional overdose of painkillers at age 45.

October 25, 1988 Chico and Bobby DeBarge (of DeBarge) are convicted in Michigan of trafficking cocaine.

October 4, 1988 Determined to finally clean his system of the alcohol and drugs he’s been abusing for years, Ringo Starr, along with wife Barbara Bach, flies to Tucson, Arizona, to enter the Sierra Tucson Rehabilitation Clinic. He stays six weeks. Sobriety sticks but he becomes a right-winger.

July 18, 1988 Ike Turner is sentenced to one year in a Santa Monica, California, jail for six grams of crack found in his car during a traffic stop in August 1987.

May 13, 1988 Jazz trumpeter and vocalist Chet Baker dies at age 58 after falling from a second-floor window at a hotel in Amsterdam, Netherlands. An autopsy reveals traces of heroin and cocaine in his body, and the death is ruled an accident.

December 9, 1987 Will Shatter (vocalist, bassist for Flipper) dies of a drug overdose.

August 23, 1987 At a 20th anniversary “Summer Of Love” celebration concert in Calaveras County Fairgrounds in Angel Camp, California, featuring the Grateful Dead, a man who escaped from a drug treatment facility shoots a policeman and is then shot dead.

June 5, 1987 Sly Stone (of Sly and the Family Stone) surrenders to authorities in Fort Meyers, Florida, for violating his probation (for cocaine possession).

May 4, 1987 Paul Butterfield (of The Paul Butterfield Blues Band) dies of a heroin overdose at age 44. A heart attack caused by decades of drug and alcohol abuse.

May 3, 1987 Italian-French singer Dalida overdoses on barbiturates at age 54, leaving behind a note that reads “Life has become unbearable for me… Forgive me.”

February 21, 1987 Sly Stone is jailed for possession of cocaine in Los Angeles, an arrest which sends the singer into retirement and virtual seclusion upon his release.

December 2, 1986 Jerry Lee Lewis checks into the Betty Ford Clinic for addiction to painkillers.

August 8, 1986 After serving eight months of a five-year sentence in the Huntsville unit of the Texas State Prison, David Crosby gets out on parole. Crosby entered the facility after a series of arrests and failed attempts at drug rehab. He later says that going to prison saved his life, as it forced him to get sober.

February 24, 1985 David Crosby escapes from Fair Oaks Hospital in New Jersey, where he has been sentenced to drug rehab. The next day, he is caught in Greenwich Village and arrested for cocaine possession.

August 24, 1983 Jerry Lee Lewis‘ fifth wife, Shawn Michelle Stevens, dies of a methadone overdose at The Killer’s home in Nesbit, Mississippi, although several journalists suspect foul play. The couple had only been married three months. Lewis’ fourth wife had died an accidental death only a year earlier.

August 8, 1983 Harold Melvin and three members of Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes are arrested for cocaine, marijuana, and meth possession at Caesars Boardwalk Regency Hotel Casino in Atlantic City.

April 14, 1983 Rock bassist Pete Farndon (of The Pretenders) overdoses on heroin and drowns in his bathtub at age 30.

October 7, 1982 Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page is given a one-year suspended sentence for cocaine possession.

June 16, 1982 James Honeyman-Scott (lead guitarist for The Pretenders) dies of heart failure due to cocaine intolerance at age 25.

April 30, 1982 Renowned music critic Lester Bangs, who wrote for Creem and Rolling Stone, dies at age 33 from an accidental drug overdose.

March 11, 1982 Jimmy Sohns of the Shadows of Knight is arrested for distributing cocaine.

March 5, 1982 John Belushi of The Blues Brothers, 33, dies of a drug overdose in his bungalow at the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles. Belushi had been injected with a speedball, a mixture of cocaine and heroin.

August 28, 1981 Guy Stevens (music producer/manager) dies of a prescription drug overdose in South London, England, at age 38. He produced The Clash’s third album, London Calling.

April 20, 1981 John Phillips of The Mamas & The Papas is sentenced to five years for helping a Los Angeles-area pharmacist sell fake prescriptions, as well as drug possession. His sentence will be reduced to one month, however, after he agrees to perform 250 hours of community service in the form of anti-drug lectures.

April 5, 1981 Blues-rock musician Bob “The Bear” Hite (lead singer of Canned Heat) dies at age 38 after snorting a vial of heroin – thinking it was cocaine – given to him by a fan.

February 15, 1981 Mike Bloomfield, a renowned guitarist with The Paul Butterfield Blues Band and The Electric Flag, is found dead in his car under mysterious circumstances. Al Kooper, who played with him on many Bob Dylan sessions, surmises that Bloomfield overdosed and his drug dealer drove him to a secluded spot to be found later.

December 29, 1980 Folk musician Tim Hardin, who wrote the hit “If I Were a Carpenter,” dies of a heroin overdose at age 39.

November 21, 1980 Don Henley is arrested after calling 911 to save a 16-year-old prostitute found naked at his Los Angeles home who has overdosed on cocaine and Quaaludes.

November 16, 1980 ’60s soul singer O.V. Wright (“That’s How Strong My Love Is”) dies of a heart attack at age 41 after consistent drug abuse weakens his health.

July 31, 1980 The Mamas & The Papas founder and vocalist “Papa” John Phillips is arrested for possession of cocaine and running a phony prescription scam with a local pharmacy and eventually sentenced to eight years in prison (though this sentence would later be reduced to 30 days in jail and community service).

July 14, 1980 Malcolm Owen (original singer for Ruts) dies of a heroin overdose at age 26.

July 2, 1980 Grateful Dead‘s Mickey Hart and Bob Weir are arrested and charged with inciting a riot at San Diego Sports Arena to break up a drug bust.

May 30, 1980 Rock bassist Carl Radle (of Derek and the Dominos) dies of a drug-and-alcohol-related kidney infection at age 37.

May 16, 1980 Elvis Presley‘s doctor, George Nichopoulous, is arrested for abusing his licence to prescribe controlled drugs. Nichopoulous wrote Elvis prescriptions for over 10,000 doses of narcotics in 1977, the year Elvis died). He is acquitted, but in 1992 the Tennessee Medical Board revokes his license.

March 26, 1980 John Poulos (drummer for The Buckinghams) dies of drug-related heart failure less than a week before this 33rd birthday.

January 25, 1980 Paul McCartney is released and deported from Japan after spending nine days in a Tokyo jail. He was arrested at the airport when customs officials found 219 grams of marijuana in his luggage.

January 16, 1980 Paul McCartney packs about half a pound of marijuana in his luggage, which lands him 10 days in a Tokyo jail upon arrival. He had the weed in New York and wanted to bring it with him to smoke on tour, saying, “This stuff was too good to flush down the toilet, so I thought I’d take it with me.”

November 23, 1979 Marianne Faithfull is arrested at the Oslo, Norway, airport for possession of marijuana.

September 27, 1979 Jimmy McCulloch (lead guitarist for Paul McCartney & Wings) dies of heroin-induced heart failure in Maida Vale, North West London, at age 26.

April 22, 1979 Keith Richards serves his punishment for a Toronto arrest on heroin charges when The Rolling Stones play the first of two concerts in Ontario to raise money for the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, which is his court-ordered community service.

January 10, 1979 Richard Carpenter of the Carpenters enters the Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Kansas, to treat an addiction to quaaludes. He takes a year off after his treatment.

October 24, 1978 The Rolling Stones‘ Keith Richards pleads guilty to heroin possession in Toronto, Canada, and is given a one-year suspended sentence. The Stones are also ordered to play a gig for charity.

October 3, 1978 At an Aerosmith show in Fort Wayne, Indiana, cops arrest fans for smoking marijuana, prompting Steven Tyler to chastise them Jim Morrison-style from the stage. Tyler announces that the band will bail out anyone who is arrested that night, and the next day they do just that. Understandably, memories of the event are hazy, and the number arrested has been reported at anywhere from 28-58.

July 29, 1978 Publicist Peter Meaden (former manager of The Who) dies from a barbiturate overdose at age 36 in Edmonton, London, England.

January 31, 1978 Greg Herbert, a 30-year-old saxophonist with Blood, Sweat & Tears, dies of an accidental drug overdose. He’s discovered in his hotel room the following day.

August 24, 1977 Country legend Waylon Jennings is arrested for cocaine possession in New York City by federal agents, an event which will inspire his song “Don’t You Think This Outlaw Bit’s Done Got out of Hand?” The charges are later dropped.

February 27, 1977 Keith Richards is arrested for heroin possession in Toronto.

December 4, 1976 Tommy Bolin, age 25, dies from a drug overdose in a Miami hotel room, after opening for Jeff Beck at the Jai-Alai Fronton in Miami. Hours before the guitarist’s death, Bolin responded to a news reporter’s well wishes by saying, “I’ve been taking care of myself my whole life. Don’t worry about me. I’m going to be around for a long time.”

June 30, 1976 Police raid Neil Diamond‘s house and find less than an ounce of marijuana. The arrest is struck from his record when he agrees to attend a drug aversion program. He releases “Man of God” proclaiming his eternal faith.

May 28, 1976 Gregg Allman testifies against The Allman Brothers Band‘s road manager/bodyguard Scooter Herring in a deal to avoid drug charges after a drug-trafficking sting. This causes tensions in the band, who take two years off before re-forming.

March 21, 1976 After playing a show in Rochester, New York, David Bowie is arrested on charges of marijuana possession when police raid his hotel room. Iggy Pop and two others are also arrested. His hearing takes place on April 20 (4/20!), and the charges are dropped.

February 19, 1976 Tower of Power lead singer Rick Stevens is arrested after killing three men in a botched drug deal. He is found guilty and initially sentenced to death, but given a life sentence when the death penalty is ruled unconstitutional in California. He is released 36 years later, and in 2016 joins Tower of Power to play a prison concert.

October 7, 1975 The US Court of Appeals overturns the longstanding deportation order for John Lennon, ruling that Lennon, in being held accountable for violating a foreign law (a 1968 rap for possession of marijuana in England), had been denied due process.

July 3, 1975 Three Dog Night‘s Chuck Negron is arrested in his hotel room and charged with cocaine possession on the opening night of a tour.

June 29, 1975 Rocker Tim Buckley dies of a drug overdose at age 28.

November 25, 1974 Nick Drake dies after overdosing on the antidepressant Tryptasol. Just 26 years old, the British musician released three albums in his lifetime.

September 23, 1974 Robbie McIntosh, drummer for The Average White Band, dies of an accidental heroin overdose at age 24.

April 25, 1974 Pamela Courson, who was Jim Morrison‘s girlfriend and the one who found him dead in a bathtub, dies of a heroin overdose at age 27.

April 17, 1974 Vinnie Taylor (lead guitarist for Sha Na Na) dies of an accidental heroin overdose at age 24.

October 15, 1973 Having experienced respiratory problems for the past four days, Elvis Presley is admitted for two weeks to Memphis’ Baptist Memorial Hospital with what is termed “pneumonia.” Dr. George Nichopoulos, Elvis’s personal physician, discovers his patient’s addiction to Demerol.

October 15, 1973 Stones guitarist Keith Richards is banned from entering France for two years when he is found guilty by a Nice court of using, supplying and trafficking cannabis.

September 9, 1973 Following up on his plan to use the concert audience for the background vocals on the left stereo channel for his song “Sons Of 1984,” Todd Rundgren records the crowd at a show in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, which is disrupted because of a pot bust. The right channel vocals came from a show in New York.

March 27, 1973 Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead is stopped for speeding, then busted when various drugs are found in his car.

March 8, 1973 Paul McCartney is fined 100 pounds for growing cannabis on his farm in Campbeltown, Scotland.

January 14, 1973 The Grateful Dead‘s Phil Lesh is arrested for possession of drugs in California.

November 18, 1972 Neil Young‘s guitarist Danny Whitten, struggling to overcome a heroin addiction, dies from a lethal combination of Valium and alcohol at age 29.

November 6, 1972 Original New York Dolls drummer Billy Murcia dies at the age of 21 in London, England, from asphyxiation following an accidental overdose.

October 14, 1972 Joe Cocker and six members of his touring band are arrested after a concert in Adelaide, Australia, when police allegedly discover marijuana and heroin in their hotel rooms. The group are not charged but instead given four hours to leave the country.

September 20, 1972 Paul McCartney is arrested for growing marijuana on his farm in Scotland. The judge in his case has never seen a cannabis plant, so he takes a good look at it and fines McCartney 100 pounds.

August 2, 1972 Brian Cole (bass guitarist for The Association) dies of a heroin overdose at age 29.

July 18, 1972 All six members of Sly & the Family Stone are arrested in Hollywood after police search their tour bus and find two pounds of marijuana and two vials of cocaine.

May 29, 1971 Thirty-six fans are treated after drinking cider spiked with LSD at a Grateful Dead show at San Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom.

April 15, 1971 Rolling Stone reports that the Illinois Crime Commission has issued a list of “drug-oriented rock records,” which includes Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit,” Procol Harum’s “A Whiter Shade of Pale,” and “Puff The Magic Dragon” by Peter, Paul and Mary.

October 14, 1970 Leading up to his “War On Drugs” initiative, US President Richard Nixon encourages radio stations to work with him in stopping drug abuse. “If you can make a contribution here, I believe you will be serving the national interest,” he says at the White House Conference on Drug Abuse.

October 10, 1970 The head of the FCC issues a statement in rebuttal to Vice President Spiro Agnew’s complaint that radio stations were playing too many songs about drugs. The statement reads: “If we really want to do something about drugs, let’s do something about life… The song writers are trying to help us understand our plight and deal with it. It’s about the only leadership we’re getting. They’re not really urging you to adopt a heroin distribution program, Mr. Vice President.”

September 3, 1970 Canned Heat frontman Alan Wilson commits suicide at age 27 via barbiturate overdose. A litany of other rock artists soon die at the same age, including Jimi Hendrix two weeks later.

August 14, 1970 After being found crawling along a motel hallway in La Jolla, California, incoherent and “combative,” Stephen Stills is arrested for possession of cocaine and barbiturates.

June 23, 1970 Chubby Checker and three passengers are arrested in Niagara Falls after police discover marijuana and other unidentified capsules in the rocker’s car. The charges are later dropped, however.

May 16, 1970 Marty Balin of Jefferson Airplane is arrested on charges of drug possession in his Bloomington, Minnesota, hotel room after police find him smoking pot. His eventual punishment in a $100 fine.

March 16, 1970 Mary Ann Ganser (of The Shangri-Las) dies of a barbiturates overdose at age 22.

December 22, 1969 John Lennon and Yoko Ono meet with Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and Minister of Health John Munro to discuss drug abuse.

August 24, 1969 John Lennon writes, rehearses, and records a song about his recent heroin withdrawal entitled “Cold Turkey,” where he also puts into practice his recent introduction to “primal scream” therapy. Fans and critics are shocked and appalled by the emotionally raw recording, a prelude to his eventual Plastic Ono Band album.

May 28, 1969 Mick Jagger and girlfriend Marianne Faithfull are arrested in their London home on charges of marijuana possession, but released on 50 pounds’ bail.

May 16, 1969 Jack Casady, bassist for Jefferson Airplane, is arrested in New Orleans for possession of marijuana and given a suspended sentence of two-and-a-half years.

May 3, 1969 Canadian customs officials arrest Jimi Hendrix after finding heroin in his bag (he is acquitted in court).

March 31, 1969 George Harrison and his wife Pattie appear in court in Surrey, England, to answer recent charges of marijuana resin possession. Both are fined 250 pounds.

March 12, 1969 Infamous London police officer Det. Sgt. Norman Pilcher, well-known for singling out and busting rock stars, enters George Harrison‘s house in Esher, Surrey, England and arrests the Beatle and his wife Pattie for possession of marijuana (specifically, cannabis resin).

November 29, 1968 For his cannabis possession charge, John Lennon is fined $360 in a London court. The judge believes John’s explanation that he no longer uses marijuana and had merely forgotten about the stash. Wife Yoko Ono is entirely cleared of charges. Lennon is the first Beatle to be charged with such a crime.

November 28, 1968 John Lennon and Yoko Ono appear at the Marylebone Magistrates’ Court, London, to answer charges of cannabis resin possession. Lennon pleads guilty and is fined 150 pounds and 20 guineas.

March 20, 1968 Eric Clapton jams with Buffalo Springfield members Neil Young, Stephen Stills, Jim Messina and Richie Furay at the Topanga Canyon home of Stills’ girlfriend. Neighbors call the cops, and all but Stills (who escapes through a window) are charged with suspicion of marijuana use. Clapton beats the rap; Young, Messina and Furay are found guilty and fined.

October 30, 1967 Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones pleads guilty to drug possession and gets a nine-month prison sentence.

October 2, 1967 The entire Grateful Dead are arrested for marijuana possession in San Francisco.

July 24, 1967 In response to their friend John Hopkins being sentenced to nine months in jail for marijuana possession, The Beatles take out full-page ad in The Times of London calling for legalization of the drug. “The law against marijuana is immoral in principle and unworkable in practice,” it reads.

June 29, 1967 Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones are both found guilty on drug charges and sentenced in a London court; Richards gets one year, Jagger three months. Neither serve any time as an appeals court throws out the Richards conviction and reduces Jagger’s sentence to probation.

March 21, 1967 John Lennon takes his first major LSD trip and freaks out while recording backing vocals on the track “Getting Better.” Producer George Martin, not realizing the effects of the drug, takes Lennon to the roof of Abbey Road Studios to get some fresh air. Paul McCartney and George Harrison, upon learning where John is, rush up to get him down. The group works on a piano track for “Lovely Rita” instead.

February 5, 1967 Pop Stars And Drugs – Facts That Will Shock You screams the headline of the British newspaper News of the World. The article describes LSD parties thrown by The Moody Blues and attended by Pete Townshend, Ginger Baker and other prominent rock stars, and claims that Mick Jagger took Benzedrine tablets and lured girls back to his apartment to smoke hash. Jagger sues for libel, as it was actually Brian Jones with the Benzedrine. The paper responds by staking out Jagger and tipping police to drug activity at Keith Richards‘ Redlands estate. On February 12, police raid the place, arresting Jagger, Richards and Marianne Faithfull on drug charges.

December 3, 1966 Having been convicted of heroin and marijuana possession, Ray Charles is given a five-year suspended sentence and fined $10,000.

June 21, 1966 The Beatles record “She Said She Said,” a song inspired by a party where Peter Fonda, John Lennon, Ringo Starr and George Harrisonn were taking acid. Paul McCartney, who did not partake at the party, finds himself frozen out of the recording session and leaves, so Harrison plays bass on the track.

December 28, 1965 Elvis Presley and his girlfriend Priscilla try LSD for the first, and last, time at his Graceland mansion.

October 3, 1965 Johnny Cash is stopped by US Customs officials at the Mexican border on suspicion of heroin smuggling and found to be holding over 1,000 prescription narcotics and amphetamines. He receives a suspended sentence.

October 31, 1964 Landing in Boston, Ray Charles is arrested when heroin and marijuana are found when he is searched at customs. He enters rehab to avoid jail.

August 28, 1964 The Beatles smoke pot for the first time, which is supplied by Bob Dylan, who joins the band after one of their concerts in New York state. Dylan is surprised they haven’t tried it before, as he thought they sang “I get high” in their song “I Want To Hold Your Hand,” when it was really “I can’t hide.”

December 14, 1963 Dinah Washington dies of an accidental barbiturate overdose at age 39.

November 14, 1961 Before a show in Indianapolis, Ray Charles is arrested when marijuana and heroin are found in his hotel room. Charges are dropped on a technicality, but his drug problems were far from over.

April 25, 1955 The UN’s commission on narcotics releases a report stating “definite connection between increased marijuana smoking and that form of entertainment known as bebop and rebop.”

April 20, 2020 Homebound during the coronavirus pandemic, Willie Nelson stages the “Come And Toke It” live stream to support efforts to legalize marijuana and free those incarcerated for it. Guests include Ziggy Marley, who does “One Love,” and Kacey Musgraves, who performs “Slow Burn.”

August 20, 2016 Former 3 Doors Down guitarist Matt Roberts is found dead in a Wisconsin hotel room at age 38, presumably from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs.

July 20, 2016 Weed-loving rappers Wiz Khalifa and Snoop Dogg begin their “High Road” tour with a show in West Palm Beach, Florida. Says Khalifa, “It’s a joint performance.”

May 5, 2016 Arsenio Hall files a $5 million defamation suit against Former shaven headed Catholic Sinead O’Connor after the singer posts a message on Facebook suggesting the comedian was the recently deceased Prince‘s drug dealer. O’Connor responds to the suit: “I’m more amused than I’ve ever dreamed a person could be and look forward very much to how hilarious it will be watching him trying to prove me wrong.”

April 7, 2014 25-year-old Peaches Geldof, daughter of the Live Aid mastermind Bob Geldof, is found dead in Kent, England, after overdosing on heroin. Her mother, Paula Yates, died in 2000 when Peaches was 11.

November 10, 2013 At the MTV Europe Awards, Miley Cyrus smokes a joint while accepting her Best Video award for “Wrecking Ball.” The ceremony is held in Amsterdam, so it’s legal.

October 8, 2012 Green Day is forced to cancel their appearance at the New Orleans’ Voodoo Music Festival, citing Billie Joe Armstrong’s problems with substance abuse. Armstrong had an onstage outburst mid-show in Las Vegas a few weeks earlier that prompted him to get treatment.

September 19, 2012 Fiona Apple is arrested when her tour bus is stopped in the West Texas town of Sierra Blanca, the same place where Willie Nelson and Snoop Dogg were previously busted. Border patrol agents find four grams of hash on the bus, which Apple says is hers. She spends a night in jail before being released on bail.

October 8, 2011 Weezer bass player Mikey Welsh dies of an overdose-induced heart attack at a hotel in Chicago, Illinois, at age 40.

August 7, 2011 Big Boi of OutKast is arrested in Miami on drug charges when police find ecstasy and Viagra in baggage with his name on it.

March 28, 2011 Rapper Rick Ross is arrested in Shreveport, Louisiana, after being caught with one gram of marijuana. Ross was smoking the drug at the Hilton Hotel when guests reported smelling a foul odor coming from his room. Ross is booked and released the same night.

March 8, 2011 Alice in Chains bass player Mike Starr dies of a prescription drug overdose at age 44. Starr was the last person to see the group’s lead singer, Layne Staley, before he died in 2002.

November 9, 2010 Rapper Wiz Khalifa is arrested in Greenville, North Carolina, on drug charges after authorities smell marijuana coming from his tour bus. Police find 60 grams of pot after searching the vehicle. Khalifa is booked and released on a $300,000 bond. The rapper’s lawyers are able to reduce the charge to personal possession and Khalifa avoids jail time.

September 1, 2010 T.I. and his wife Tameka “Tiny” Cottle are arrested on drug charges in Los Angeles after police smell marijuana coming from the rapper’s car during a routine traffic stop. The vehicle is searched and the couple is taken to jail on drug charges. Both T.I. and Tiny are later released after posting $10,000 bail.

May 24, 2010 Slipknot bass player Paul Gray dies at age 38 from an accidental overdose in his Iowa hotel room.

September 19, 2008 Ten years after getting arrested for lewd behavior in a Los Angeles public bathroom, George Michael is arrested on drug charges in a restroom north of London. “I want to apologise to my fans for screwing up again, and to promise them I’ll sort myself out,” the singer says. “And to say sorry to everybody else, just for boring them.”

July 11, 2008 Barenaked Ladies‘ co-lead singer Steven Page is busted for cocaine possession while visiting his girlfriend’s apartment in Fayetteville, New York. The charges will eventually be dropped, but the incident is a point of contention with his clean-cut bandmates and leads to his departure the following year.

August 14, 2007 Amy Winehouse checks into rehab for the first time, entering the Causeway Retreat in Osea Island, England with her husband, Blake Fielder. They both start using again as soon as they get out.

August 8, 2007 Amy Winehouse overdoses on a mixture of alcohol, heroin, cocaine, ecstasy and ketamine after a London pub crawl. Her hospitalization causes the cancellation of her first US tour. The singer refused her record company’s request to enter rehab for alcohol abuse, inspiring her hit record “Rehab.” She does eventually end up in a clinic, but never gets sober for good.

January 9, 2005 Neo soul singer D’Angelo is arrested for drunk driving in his Richmond, Virginia, hometown. He is also charged with possession of marijuana and possession of a controlled substance.

April 6, 2004 Wilco‘s frontman, Jeff Tweedy, checks into a rehabilitation center after developing an addiction to painkillers. A statement released by the band reads: “The treatment follows a well-documented history of Tweedy’s battle with migraine headache.”

July 1, 2000 In London, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails overdoses on China white heroin that he believes is cocaine. Reznor, who has been battling addiction throughout the ’90s, redoubles his efforts to get sober and eventually does a few years later.

June 1, 1998 Scott Weiland of Stone Temple Pilots is arrested for heroin possession in New York the day he is supposed to do a solo show.

April 24, 1996 After being forced to cancel shows, Stone Temple Pilots issue a statement saying that lead singer Scott Weiland has “become unable to rehearse or appear for these shows due to his dependency on drugs. He is currently under a doctor’s care in a medical facility.” Weiland sees this as a betrayal, and his relationship with his bandmates turns rocky.

August 17, 1995 Depeche Mode lead singer Dave Gahan slashes his wrists with razor blades in a suicide attempt. He is saved when a friend comes by and calls paramedics, who take him to Cedars Sinai Medical Center, where he wakes up the next morning in the psychiatric ward.

April 1, 1992 Nigel Preston, drummer and founding member of The Cult, dies of a heroin overdose at age 28.

April 23, 1991 Johnny Thunders of The Heartbreakers and New York Dolls dies from a drug overdose at age 38.

November 22, 1990 Two members of the Puerto Rican boy band Menudo, Ruben Gomez (16) and Sergio Gonzalez (18), are arrested for possession of marijuana at Miami International Airport and fired from the group. This does little to change the band dynamic, as Menudo regularly brings in younger members as others age out.

September 8, 1989 Rapper Keith “Cowboy” Wiggins of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five dies at age 28 from a crack cocaine addiction.

June 25, 1988 Red Hot Chili Peppers Israeli born guitarist Hillel Slovak dies of a drug overdose at age 26. Just as the peppers were breaking big.

December 12, 1985 After missing a bond revocation hearing in November, David Crosby turns himself in to the FBI and begins serving time for drug and firearms possession. Crosby considered fleeing the country to avoid jail time, but decided to bite the bullet and serve his sentence.

August 20, 1981 Thin Lizzy‘s Phil Lynott appears at Kingston Crown Court where he is fined £200 for possessing cocaine.

November 23, 1979 Having retreated from the public eye after the commercial failures of her first two albums, folk singer Judee Sill dies of a drug overdose at age 35.

November 3, 1979 Days before his 18th birthday, teen idol Leif Garrett, under the influence of drugs and alcohol, crashes his mother’s Porsche 914 en route to buy cocaine. He escapes serious injury but his best friend, Roland Winkler, is left a paraplegic.

March 21, 1978 Carole King‘s third husband, Rick Evers, dies of a drug overdose after working on Carole’s album Welcome Home, which was released two months later. Evers had co-writing credits on three songs from the album and appears on the cover with King.

December 8, 1975 Gary Thain, bassist for Uriah Heep, dies of respiratory failure after a heroin overdose in Norwood Green, London, at age 27.

December 8, 1969 Testifying at his trial for possesion of hashish and heroin in the Toronto Supreme Court, Jimi Hendrix claims that he has now “outgrown” drugs. The jury finds him not guilty after eight hours of deliberations.

June 22, 1969 After a long battle with drug and alcohol abuse, Judy Garland dies of an overdose at age 47.

June 2, 1969 Jazz bassist Albert Stinson dies from a drug overdose at 24.

August 21, 1966 Jim Morrison is a no-show for The Doors set at the Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles. They play the first set without him, then get him at his apartment, where he is tripping on acid. When they play “The End,” he improvises Oedipal lyrics: Father… I want to kill you Mother… I want to f–k you This gets them fired, but provides the final lyric that goes into the song when they record it for their first album.

January 19, 1966 The documentary A Boy Called Donovan airs on British TV. The film follows the singer Donovan as he goes to parties and makes music. In one scene, one of his associates is seen smoking marijuana, which is kind of shocking. This makes Donovan a target for the London drug squad, who make him their first high-profile bust when they arrest him in June for possession of marijuana. Members of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones are later victims.

December 29, 1965 The Sir Douglas Quintet are busted for marijuana possession in Corpus Christi, Texas. They get probation when they appear in court with short hair, wearing suits. “I’m glad you cut your hair,” the judge tells them. “I saw your pictures in the paper when you were arrested and I don’t go for that stuff.”

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