It was long enough ago that I can talk rationally about it now. Over a period of a few years, I tried just about everything but heroin, and since then I've stopped using anything but alcohol. Even that is way down from my 20's. And I haven't had a cigarette in years.

I never could play worth a damn while I was stoned. All it was good for was parking myself on my butt and listening to someone else's music! Having artistic inclinations makes musicians particularly 'at risk' of addiction to drugs that seem to enhance the effects of music. That's sad, because it will definitely destroy your creativity, and trash out the rest of your life while its at it.

Contrary to an aquaintance's assumption, when I visit my old hometown, I don't hang out with the old friends I used to party with. Most of 'em pretty much stopped growing, in any sense of the term, about 30 years ago. Quite a few of them are dead.

I read David Crosby's autobiography a while ago. He nearly died from free-basing cocaine. That's why he had to have a liver transplant. The one comment he made that stuck with me went something like this...

"Our parents, and various authority figures, all lied to us about so many things, including the effects of marijuana. But they were right about one thing. It does lead to other, more dangerous drugs."

There used to be a saying among dealers... "The first one's free... The rest you pay for." 'Not true: you pay for all of them, one way or another!