Fear and Loathing in the Psychedelic Era
It would be criminal not to mention Hunter S. Thompson
when talking about psychedelics in the 1960s. The journalist/writer was one of
the most influential figures of the era and he did not shy away from his use of
(many) drugs, including LSD.
His most famous
work is arguably his book ‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas’ (adapted in a movie
starring Johnny Depp, who seems to be unable to escape roles of LSD users). The
book is semi-autobiographical and recounts Thompson’s (under his alias of Raoul
Duke) psychedelic experiences in Las Vegas. In its opening pages, the tone is set
when Duke is said to carry a briefcase holding “ two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline,
five sheets of high powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half full of cocaine,
and a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers... and
also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of Budweiser, a pint of raw
ether and two dozen amyls”, as he assures that “once you get locked into
a serious drug collection, the tendency is to push it as far as you can”.
Thompson was introduced
to psychedelics relatively late into his life, at 28 years old (in 1965) while
he was following the Hell’s Angel’s for an article. From then on drugs became
an integral part of his life. Thompson was quoted saying “sex, drugs, and
insanity have always worked for me, but I wouldn’t recommend them for everyone.”,
this is a feeling that seemed to be fairly common in the psychedelic era. Although
he used LSD and other drugs like so many others, he did not agree with the
hippie communities, who he believed had “never really believed they were the
wave of the future anyway”, as he thought that their lack of political actions resulted
in a drugged-out society with no aims.
Thompson’s LSD use is a
cautionary tale of sort. One of his favourite quotes was “he who makes a beast
of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man”, from Samuel Johnson and Thompson
did turn into a beast of sort after years of abuse. Roberto Loiderman, of the LA
Times, recalls a night spent with Thompson where he showed his dark side as
they both did LSD and Thompson ended up aiming a pistol and a rifle “out the
window”, terrifying Roberto and Thompson’s then wife, Sandy. Another side to Thompson
was what Johnny Depp (who became a very close friend of his while filming Fear
and Loathing) described as “a very gentle guy” who was “hyper, hypersensitive,
hence the self-medication”. Thompson is a perfect representation of the 1960s
artists as his use of psychedelics led him to create some amazing work, and some
extremely powerful political commentary, but it also led to his downfall as by
the end of his life, he made little to no sense, finally cutting it short by shooting
himself in the head with his final words being “No More Games. No More Bombs.
No More Walking. No More Fun. No More Swimming. 67. That is 17 years past 50.
17 more than I needed or wanted. Boring. I am always bitchy. No Fun – for
anybody. 67. You are getting Greedy. Act your old age. Relax – This won’t hurt”.
Henri Crépin-Leblond
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