Named Time magazine's Icon of the Year, Elton John is using the platform to take a stance against illegal drugs, which he has done and, in the case of cocaine, was addicted to.
John's coke habit began in 1974 when his manager John Reid turned him on to the stimulating white powder.
About those druggy years, Time writes:
At first he found it freed him of his crippling shyness, but eventually it took over.
John reflects:
“You make terrible decisions on drugs. I wanted love so badly, I’d just take hostages. I’d see someone I liked and spend three or four months together, and then they would resent me because they had nothing in their life apart from me. It really upsets me, thinking back on how many people I probably hurt.”
In 2012, he noted: "I was just in and out of a drug-fueled haze in the '80s."
John wrote in his 2012 book Love Is the Cure:
"I was so ignorant about drugs and so naive. I mean, my band was smoking marijuana for years; I didn't even know what a joint was. And I'd never seen a line of cocaine in my life, and I don't know whether it's bravado, or, 'OK, I'll join in,' but, [in] my stupidity, I had a line of coke and that started the whole process...
"I always said cocaine was the drug that made me open up. I could talk to people. But then it became the drug that closed me down, because the last two weeks of my use of cocaine I spent in a room in London, using it and not coming out for two weeks. And it completely shut me down."
Songwriting partner Bernie Taupin, who had his own drug problems as well, says John's musical output declined while under the influence:
“I was terrified for him. It was absolutely horrible. A lot of the work that we did in the times when he was at his worst wasn’t the best of both of us. I wasn’t able to creatively invest any time in writing material that related to him until he actually found himself, and then it was easier for me to reflect upon it.”
Long sober, John has assisted other celebrity users like Eminem, Lady Gaga and Robbie Williams. He also has an issue with marijuana:
“I maintain that it’s addictive. It leads to other drugs. And when you’re stoned – and I’ve been stoned – you don’t think normally," adding:
“Legalizing marijuana in America and Canada is one of the greatest mistakes of all time.”
In 2020, John discussed the occasion when he was "smoking a joint and listening to [Kraftwerk's Trans-Europe Express] on really loud speakers and I thought I saw God."
John recently acknowleged he's gone blind due to an infection in his right eye. Maybe medical cannabis can help?
More No-Nos
