David Bowie – Heroes – 1977 Drugs have long been intertwined with rock ‘n’ roll, and for David Bowie , they became part of his life even before he tasted fame. However, with success and wealth, his use of substances escalated dramatically, eventually reaching problematic levels.
Bowie was open about his history of drug use, especially after he got clean in 1993. By then, he had experimented for nearly three decades, tried everything he could, and was determined to close that chapter for good. Once sober, he was there to support others facing similar struggles, offering guidance and advice to figures like Slash and Trent Reznor as they sought their own paths to recovery.
Once he quit drugs and alcohol, Bowie was never tempted to go back, telling NME in the 1990s: “Y’know, that’s the trouble it’s like having this huge great oyster with this pearl in the middle and you could get the pearl but you do risk having your arms snapped off. Well, do we do it or not? I would suggest that possibly the best thing is just to not bother.”
Like many people, Bowie’s drug journey dates back to his days as a teenager. The singer claimed to have first started taking pills at around “thirteen or fourteen”, which was his entry point. Surprisingly, it wasn’t until he was much older that he first experimented with marijuana, which is typically the starting point for most. However, rather than trying it behind the bins at school during lunchtime, Bowie was introduced to weed by a pre-fame John Paul Jones, who would later form Led Zeppelin .
Bowie made the admission about his history with cannabis during a 1976 interview with Playboy. Notably, the conversation took place during the same year that he and Iggy Pop were arrested in Rochester, New York, on a charge of possessing the same drug. Talking about his history of drug use before first smoking weed, Bowie professed: “I’d done a lot of pills ever since I was a kid. Thirteen or fourteen. But the first time I got stoned on grass was with John Paul […]
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