# Long term famous functional drug addicts? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 19, 2012, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-term-famous-functional-drug-addicts/613313 "2012-02-19T07:46:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2012, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-term-famous-functional-drug-addicts/613313/21 "2012-02-19T18:55:36Z")
> [@Larry\_Mudd](#): > > I think in order to be considered an addict you need to use addictive substances. nitrous oxide is one of the most addicitve things i have ever done ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2012, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-term-famous-functional-drug-addicts/613313/22 "2012-02-19T18:57:00Z")
[Paul Erdös](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Erd%C5%91s) was the most prolific mathematician ever, and a heavy user of amphetamines for more than 20 years. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2012, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-term-famous-functional-drug-addicts/613313/23 "2012-02-19T18:57:40Z")
Edgar Allan Poe (alcohol and opium), apparently the extent to which he was an opium addict is now disputed - when I was a child it was a given that Poe was a junkie. Lucy Maud Montgomery (goofballs) ---
**Author:** ![Jamicat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c67d28/32.png) [@Jamicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamicat)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2012, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-term-famous-functional-drug-addicts/613313/24 "2012-02-19T19:09:50Z")
Lemmy… ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2012, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-term-famous-functional-drug-addicts/613313/25 "2012-02-19T19:16:47Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > [Samuel Taylor Coleridge](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coleridge_and_opium) would count. His opium addiction did cause him problems, but it also apparently helped him with his poetry, and he was definitely successful given that he was well-known at the time and his work’s still read now. From the same era, [Thomas de Quincey](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_de_Quincey) (“Confessions of an English Opium Eater”) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2012, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-term-famous-functional-drug-addicts/613313/26 "2012-02-19T19:25:13Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > Winston Churchill got through a gigantic amount of booze. Heck, we can throw in nicotine and have thousands of examples of functional addicts. ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2012, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-term-famous-functional-drug-addicts/613313/27 "2012-02-19T19:28:05Z")
Ray Charles. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2012, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-term-famous-functional-drug-addicts/613313/28 "2012-02-19T19:33:38Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Heck, we can throw in nicotine and have thousands of examples of functional addicts. Aye, of course we could. Churchill was a high-functioning alcoholic though, and that meets the criteria of the OP. By modern standards FDR probably was too, but Churchill was a massive alkie by any standard. ---
**Author:** ![Shmendrik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shmendrik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shmendrik)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2012, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-term-famous-functional-drug-addicts/613313/29 "2012-02-19T19:34:16Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > Winston Churchill got through a gigantic amount of booze. I’ve read that he exaggerated that in order to maintain a certain image, and often appeared at parties with a glass of whiskey which was really greatly watered down. [Here’s a (probably biased) website](http://www.winstonchurchill.org/learn/myths/myths/he-was-an-alcohol-abuser) which discusses it. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2012, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-term-famous-functional-drug-addicts/613313/30 "2012-02-19T19:46:09Z")
> [@Shmendrik](#): > > I’ve read that he exaggerated that in order to maintain a certain image, and often appeared at parties with a glass of whiskey which was really greatly watered down. I don’t think he ever drank massive amounts of spirits, to be fair. Pol Roger as a breakfast\* tipple though… \*Not that he was much of an early riser ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2012, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-term-famous-functional-drug-addicts/613313/31 "2012-02-19T20:36:09Z")
> [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](#): > > [Paul Erdös](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Erd%C5%91s) was the most prolific mathematician ever, and a heavy user of amphetamines for more than 20 years. Erd **ő** s, actually. Although he did take amphetamines daily, he vehemently denied accusations that he was addicted. A colleague bet him $500 that he couldn’t stop taking the drug for a month; Erdős easily won the bet, but complained that his abstinence had set back the progress of mathematics by a month: “Before, when I looked at a piece of blank paper my mind was filled with ideas. Now all I see is a blank piece of paper.” Erdős resumed taking the drug after winning the bet. ---
**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:** [February 19, 2012, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-term-famous-functional-drug-addicts/613313/32 "2012-02-19T21:16:28Z")
> [@sitchensis](#): > > nitrous oxide is one of the most addicitve things i have ever done It has no addiction syndrome at all. Being inclined to do something repeatedly because you find it fun doesn’t count as an addiction. Anyway, Leary’s regular nitrous use was as a palliative anaesthetic at the end of his life, with the aim of reducing his dependence on morphine. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2012, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-term-famous-functional-drug-addicts/613313/33 "2012-02-19T21:52:24Z")
Many powerful people have personal physicians who will supply them with “legal” drugs, via prescription. Take Adolf Hitler-his personal doctor (Dr. Theo Morell) regularly gave injections to Hitler-probably composed of multiple drugs. J.F. Kennedy had his own doctor (Dr. Max Jacobs) who also supplied him with injections (of a multi-drug) cocktail. And (of course) the late Michael Jackson-his doctor kept him doped up… ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2012, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-term-famous-functional-drug-addicts/613313/34 "2012-02-19T22:48:46Z")
Christopher Hitchens (alcohol, not to mention tobacco). Granted, he died pretty young (62), but he had a functional career as a writer and speker right up until the end. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-term-famous-functional-drug-addicts/613313/35 "2012-02-20T02:16:41Z")
Can we mention famous fictional characters too? Sherlock Holmes. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-term-famous-functional-drug-addicts/613313/36 "2012-02-20T04:39:12Z")
> [@Gagundathar](#): > > Oh yes, Keith Richards. > > Good example. > > One of my friends went to a Rolling Stones concert and she was close enough to the stage that she could see the angel of death hovering over him. Your friend has double vision. ---
**Author:** ![Becky2844](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-term-famous-functional-drug-addicts/613313/37 "2012-02-20T06:02:49Z")
Sigmund Freud was a cocaine addict. After surgery (successful) for oral cancer, he went back to smoking cigars. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-term-famous-functional-drug-addicts/613313/38 "2012-02-20T06:49:32Z")
> [@Gagundathar](#): > > Timothy Leary was a god. > > ETA: No oh, he’s outside looking in. Somebody’s feeling Moody today. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-term-famous-functional-drug-addicts/613313/39 "2012-02-20T10:36:38Z")
Hermann Göring was addicted to opiates from 1923 until shortly before his death in 1945. ---
**Author:** ![Apocalypso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Apocalypso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apocalypso)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-term-famous-functional-drug-addicts/613313/40 "2012-02-20T15:54:29Z")
Nick Cave. I’ve heard he quit heroin at some point but am not sure when that was or if he’s still clean. Anyhow, he was definitely a long term user. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-term-famous-functional-drug-addicts/613313.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-term-famous-functional-drug-addicts/613313.md?page=3)