# Famous junkies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 6, 2005, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-junkies/329796 "2005-11-06T16:01:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![soulmurk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@soulmurk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/soulmurk)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2005, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-junkies/329796/21 "2005-11-06T20:52:31Z")
> [@Kalhoun](#): > > Edgar Allen Poe Sorry, but I have to… Cite? The man’s reputation was tarnished by his estate’s executor, who did everything in his power to sully Poe’s name. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2005, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-junkies/329796/22 "2005-11-06T21:06:01Z")
> [@DfrntBreign](#): > > John Lennon? Are we defining “junkie” as anyone who ever used recreational drugs of any kind? I don’t remember ever hearing of Lennon being an addict. Not as well known as some of the other famous addictions, but yeah, Lennon was strung out on heroin for a while. His song [“Cold Turkey”](http://www.lyrics007.com/John%20Lennon%20Lyrics/Cold%20Turkey%20Lyrics.html) is about kicking the habit. ---
**Author:** ![priapus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@priapus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/priapus)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2005, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-junkies/329796/23 "2005-11-06T21:26:00Z")
errol flynn peter lorre ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2005, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-junkies/329796/24 "2005-11-06T21:26:19Z")
Debbie Harry of Blondie was a junkie. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2005, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-junkies/329796/25 "2005-11-06T21:30:08Z")
Is we actually going to bother to name junkie musicians? God help the SDMB hamsters. ---
**Author:** ![JoeSki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b487fb/32.png) [@JoeSki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoeSki)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2005, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-junkies/329796/26 "2005-11-06T22:04:12Z")
Hunter S Thompson. World Famous junkie journalist extroardinarie. ---
**Author:** ![Good\_Egg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/96bed5/32.png) [@Good\_Egg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Good_Egg)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2005, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-junkies/329796/27 "2005-11-06T22:08:52Z")
That is just weird. a google ad for Alan Alda’s book? ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2005, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-junkies/329796/28 "2005-11-06T22:18:15Z")
Have things changed? I always thought of the term junkie refered to heroin addicts. Would disqualify the Rush Limbugh and Louis Armstrong entries at least. ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2005, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-junkies/329796/29 "2005-11-06T22:26:12Z")
Janis Joplin, Mama Cass, Layne Staley, Harry Neilson, (peraps ALL the Rolling Stones at one time or another?), Bob Dylan, Keith Moon, John Bonham ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2005, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-junkies/329796/30 "2005-11-06T23:10:06Z")
> [@soulmurk](#): > > Sorry, but I have to… Cite? > > The man’s reputation was tarnished by his estate’s executor, who did everything in his power to sully Poe’s name. [http://www.heroinhelper.com/bored/celebrities/index.shtml](http://www.heroinhelper.com/bored/celebrities/index.shtml) \*Edgar Allan Poe Since Poe died before heroin was invented, he clearly never used heroin. It is well-documented, however, that he used opium with some regularity. \* ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-junkies/329796/31 "2005-11-07T01:07:01Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Have things changed? I always thought of the term junkie refered to heroin addicts. Would disqualify the Rush Limbugh and Louis Armstrong entries at least. From [here](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=junkie): > [@](#): > > A narcotics addict, especially one using heroin. ---
**Author:** ![soulmurk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@soulmurk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/soulmurk)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-junkies/329796/32 "2005-11-07T01:19:01Z")
> [@Kalhoun](#): > > [Heroin Helper](http://www.heroinhelper.com/bored/celebrities/index.shtml) > > \*Edgar Allan Poe > Since Poe died before heroin was invented, he clearly never used heroin. It is well-documented, however, that he used opium with some regularity. \* Open to some debate then, as is much of Poe’s life. [This site](http://www.eapoe.org/geninfo/poealchl.htm) states otherwise: > [@](#): > > Although some wondered if Poe’s wild imagination was fired by drugs, no one seems to have seriously accused him of this habit during his lifetime. Even Poe’s bitter enemy Dr. Thomas Dunn English was willing to admit “Had Poe the opium habit when I knew him, I should, both as a physician and a man of observation, have discovered it in his frequent visits to my rooms, my visits to his house, and our meetings elsewhere. I saw no signs of it.” (The Independent, October 15, 1896). Poe was the victim of a great deal of posthumous libel and slander by his enemies. Much of it was later reprinted in biographies as fact, and many of the misconceptions and lies about him linger in popular culture today. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-junkies/329796/33 "2005-11-07T01:26:40Z")
> [@Foaming Cleanser](#): > > Louis Armstrong, bigtime (pot, anyway). Funny story about Armstrong–when he was getting ready to go overseas, he would write to his connection and ask the guy to “_make arrangements_” Later on, the dude would get credit as a _musical_ arranger. Harry Nilsson was certainly an committed alcoholic, but I’ve never heard anything about him using junk. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-junkies/329796/34 "2005-11-07T01:37:15Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Have things changed? I always thought of the term junkie refered to heroin addicts. Would disqualify the Rush Limbugh and Louis Armstrong entries at least. “Junk” is any opiate – it was originally applied to opium, and later morphine and heroin. In jive-talk, anything connected to China pretty much stood in for opiates. (“Junk” predates the later sense of “trash,” and at the beginning of the 20th century only referred to those flat-bottomed Chinese boats.) Rush was properly a junkie, since Oxycontin is an opioid pharmaceutical. ---
**Author:** ![Lisa-go-Blind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Lisa-go-Blind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lisa-go-Blind)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-junkies/329796/35 "2005-11-07T01:58:04Z")
Lou Reed Nico ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-junkies/329796/36 "2005-11-07T02:28:13Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > Harry Nilsson was certainly an committed alcoholic, but I’ve never heard anything about him using junk. I couldn’t find any sites about Harry. I just associated him with John Lennon’s wild escape-trip when Johnny hung out with Harry a lot. I guess I would be surprised if Harry never tried the stuff. Others to consider: Jim Morrison, Truman Capote, Jack Kerouac, Woody Guthrie, Arlo Guthrie, Grace Slick, Alice Cooper ---
**Author:** ![Critical1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Critical1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical1)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-junkies/329796/37 "2005-11-07T04:33:21Z")
Iggy Pop, Andrew Wood (he was in pearl jams predecessor band Mother Love Bone) that guy from Sublime who died and noone knows his name. ---
**Author:** ![parthenokinesis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/cc9497/32.png) [@parthenokinesis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/parthenokinesis)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-junkies/329796/38 "2005-11-07T06:59:16Z")
> [@Critical1](#): > > that guy from Sublime who died and noone knows his name. Bradley Nowell And while I’m here again, Shannon Hoon. And Dee Dee Ramone. ---
**Author:** ![zoogirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b9bd4f/32.png) [@zoogirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoogirl)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-junkies/329796/39 "2005-11-07T07:04:43Z")
Others to consider: Jim Morrison, Truman Capote, Jack Kerouac, Woody Guthrie, Arlo Guthrie, Grace Slick,\*\* Alice Cooper\*\* [/QUOTE] Nope. Not Alice, at least not officially and certainly not heroin. There’s some discussion among us fans about possible coke use in the early Eighties, but it’s never been admitted or proven. Alcohol, on the other hand… ☹ (But not for the last 20+years. ) ---
**Author:** ![zoogirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b9bd4f/32.png) [@zoogirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoogirl)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-junkies/329796/40 "2005-11-07T07:09:34Z")
> [@zoogirl](#): > > Others to consider: > > Jim Morrison, Truman Capote, Jack Kerouac, Woody Guthrie, Arlo Guthrie, Grace Slick,\*\* Alice Cooper\*\* Nope. Not Alice, at least not officially and certainly not heroin. There’s some discussion among us fans about possible coke use in the early Eighties, but it’s never been admitted or proven. Alcohol, on the other hand… ☹ (But not for the last 20+years. ) [/QUOTE] Oh, rats. I was quoting \*_ccwaterback_ of course. :smack: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-junkies/329796.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-junkies/329796.md?page=3)