Nixon's War on Drugs Led to Cocaine Abundance
So I'm reading the new biography of Iggy Pop (Iggy and the Stooges) because I knew him a little back in Ann Arbor when I went to college and worked at the Discount Records where all the cool rockers stopped by on a regular basis (Iggy, Alice Cooper, the MC5, Commander Cody, Bob Seger and so on) and because drugs were so much a part of life back then (no surprise I later became a drug defense lawyer) as were protests against the Administration and the Vietnam War, and I spotted this passage, which was news to me.
A few days later, on Memorial Day weekend, Dave, Scott and Steve flew back to Detroit. Jim (Iggy) and Ron followed a few days later. When Jim returned, he looked healthier than anyone could remember, tanned and relaxed.
But according to several denizens of the Fun House, when Jim hit Ann Arbor, so had cocaine, almost as if it was planned. (In some respects it was; Nixon's Operation Intercept, launched in late September of 1969 to cut down the supply of marijuana, had inspired Michigan grass-smokers to seek out alternatives: at first, opiated hash from Canada, then cocaine and finally heroin.)
More....
While I was there, cocaine reigned supreme, next to Quaaludes and pot. Who knew there was a government push?
Other reasons to read the book: For the entire Ann Arbor music scene in those years, a little about John Sinclair who was the cause celebre for getting ten years for possession of two joints and for the details on the back room of Max' Kansas City in New York (although other books have done that and the Warhol scene much better.)
Where's Iggy now? He's 60 and still performing and now crowned as the Godfather of Punk. Way to go, Iggy.
It's a great week for this remembrance. Kent State and "Four Dead in Ohio."
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