Linda Ronstadt, who did her share of cocaine as the leading female rock singer of the '70s, thinks marijuana and other drugs should be legalized.
"People who smoke pot are generally peaceful," she told the Daily News in 2013. "I think it should be legal. I think all drugs should be legal, just like alcohol. You take the money out of it, and suddenly there's not going to be a big drug trade because all of a sudden the drugs will be cheap. The whole idea of the drug cartels and the violence surrounding them will be gone. We can tax it and it will be a huge tax revenue, and I think it will be easier to educate people. There will be less HIV from infected needles, less hepatitis C; all that stuff could be controlled for the better."
"I think (pot) should be legal. I think all drugs should be legal, just like alcohol. You take the money out of it, and suddenly there's not going to be a big drug trade because all of a sudden the drugs will be cheap."
Speaking of her past use, she said, "It was going on all around me. I didn't feel prudish about it. As long as you could still play, I didn't care what you did, but if it impaired your ability to play, out you go."
In a 1975 interview with Rolling Stone, Ronstadt admitted: "I had to have my nose cauterized twice. I think they shot sodium nitrate up there. I'm okay now. I don't put anything up my nose anymore, except occasionally my finger."
In the current documentary, Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice, she recalls about the drug scene in the '70s: “The kind of paranoia that was introduced by drugs was so destructive in our overall ability to communicate with each other and it really saddened me. Then, at some point, we all stopped."
Known for hit songs like "You're No Good," "Blue Bayou" and "When Will I Be Loved," Ronstadt switched gears in the '80s and started performing jazz and Mexican music. Sadly, she can no longer sing due to her suffering from Parkinson's, which was diagnosed in 2013.. "No one can sing with Parkinson’s disease," she sighed. "No matter how hard you try."
This article was originally published on October 26, 2013 and updated on January 2, 2020.
