If a close friend says he’s been spending a whole lot of evenings with his Aunt Nora lately, it might be time to worry — not about the poor, elderly lady’s health, but that your buddy might actually have a cocaine problem. And a date with Lucy, as the Beatles reminded us, may well be an acid trip. But the name that really really raises a red flag is Sweet Jesus, aka heroin. These are only a few of the slang terms you’ll learn (or revisit) in The ABC’s of Drugs, a book created for a class assignment by School of Visual Arts student Melanie Chernock, which she describes as “essentially Toy Story on drugs.” In our favorite pages, after the jump, you’ll see Buddha figurines smoking marijuana mixed with opium, glittery troll dolls clutching disco balls, and Tigger as you’ve never seen him before; visit Chernock’s online portfolio for more.
Don’t worry, D.A.R.E. survivors — Rena Littleson has no desire to make you relive that day in middle school when a friendly cop warned your class that even thinking about smoking a joint would land you in jail for at least a decade. In fact, The Truth About Drugsisn’t about currently illegal substances at all. The collection of illustrations mimics the style of propaganda posters to explore some great moments of hysteria in the past, from the outcry against rock ‘n’ roll to segregation to alcohol prohibition to the ban on sex toys. Littleson also throws in an educational poster about the culturally accepted drug coffee and the terrible conditions that face workers who grow and harvest it. Learn the truth after the jump, then visit Littleson’s website to learn more about her work. Read More »
We’ve long been interested in the connection between drugs (legal and otherwise) and art, which explains why we were so excited to hear that one of our favorite publishers, Akashic, is launching a Drug Chronicles series. Modeled on the press’s fantastic and successful location-based Noir books and beginning with a new printing of 2005′s The Cocaine Chronicles, each volume will compile original stories about individual substances from an impressive roster of contributors. The first new collection, The Speed Chronicles, comes out December 1st. We emailed with Akashic publisher Johnny Temple — who music fans will recognize as the bassist of Girls Against Boys — about how the series came about, what we can expect from it, and his own favorite drug-influenced work of literature.
One of the most depressing things about the whole sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll mythology is how persistent and pervasive it remains in 2011. We don’t buy into hands-over-ears “Just say no” sanctimony here, but equally, there’s something sad about the fact that musicians still buy into Baudelarian mythology about drugs driving creativity. Equally, however, there’s the uncomfortable fact that plenty of musicians have a) made great music while on drugs and b) made mediocre music after going clean. Here at Flavorpill, we have a theory about this — that musicians’ drug-taking coincides with the early stages of their career, and they often get clean at about the same stage they run out of ideas. But clearly, this isn’t always the case — so join us after the jump as we put this theory to the test by looking at ten artists who’ve been very, very bad, then eventually got clean, and evaluate their work before and after the change. The results are… interesting.
That’s right, daytime TV fans — instead of dishing out advice to people with drug problems, Montel Williams is getting himself a piece of the medical marijuana pie. The former talk-show host, who has used pot as a part of his multiple sclerosis treatment, led reporters on a tour of, Albatin Wellness Cooperative, the Sacramento dispensary where he is a partner. “Prescription drugs nearly shut down my kidneys. Then a doctor suggested I try medical marijuana,” Williams told The Sacramento Bee. His facility is unique in that it doesn’t display its merchandise or allow patients to smoke it on premises, in an attempt to create “someplace your mother and father could see themselves walk into.” In fact, the place is so classy, the paper notes that visiting the high-security building “feels almost like going to the bank.” [via LA Times]
Yesterday, the Global Commission on Drug Policy, a high-level group that’s been studying drug usage and policing around the world, came to the somewhat unshocking conclusion that the war on drugs has utterly failed “with devastating consequences for individuals and societies around the world.” Not only has the decades-long war cost world governments untold trillions of dollars, it has taken the lives of countless people, innocent and guilty alike, all while doing nothing to stop the global spread of illegal drugs. The comission, which includes former international presidents, U.S. Secretaries of State and Federal Chiefs, recommended that we simply stop fighting, legalize marijuana at the very least, and experiment with the legalization and regulation of other drugs.
In celebration of this news, we present you with a some of the best (and worst) anti-drug propaganda the media has to offer. We hope that future drug education takes on a tone that is less about fear-mongering and more about providing real facts, but while we wait for that to happen, we may as well laugh at the absurdity of these campaigns.
They say the eyes are the window to the soul — and while that’s debatable, there’s no denying that they’re an excellent indicator of an individual’s recent chemical intake. Red-eyed with droopy lids? Looks like you’ve been hitting the bong. A wired, wide-eyed stare, however, could indicate that you’re hiding out in the bathroom with some rolled-up dollar bills. Decode your friends’ erratic behavior with tattoo artist Liam Sparkes‘s “Language of Eyes” chart, after the jump.
We already knew that bears were stoners. But the Village Voicepoints us to a lovely clip that proves our ursine friends don’t always stop at the gateway drug. Yup, this is a video of a small bear chowing down on some prototypical magic mushrooms before lying down in a wide-eyed reverie and communing with a lovely butterfly. The source of the clip, according to a helpful YouTube commenter, is Jean-Jacques Annaud’s 1988 film The Bear.There is some obvious editing going on here, but let’s not think about it — let’s just, like, go with it, man, as our bohemian bear friend might suggest.
Remember back in the late ’90s, when people were panicking over the possibility that MDMA was poking holes in everyone’s brain and making a whole generation of teenagers stupid? Well, your ability to recall that moment in time is a further testament to the value of a new study that found users “showed no signs of cognitive impairment attributable to drug use: ecstasy use did not decrease mental ability.” There is some fine print, and it’s not like ecstasy doesn’t have other risks or side effects, but it’s also a blow against drug-related hysteria. With that in mind, now seems like a great time to relive some of ecstasy’s greatest — and silliest — pop culture moments.
Welcome to Conversation Pieces, where Flavorpill curates five articles from the past week that you should read. Some are long, others are short. Some are from major publications, others aren’t. The only thing all these articles have in common is that they’re interesting. This week, we discuss the strangeness of William Shatner, the philosophical importance of lost laundry, the current state of poetry, Canada’s willingness to let drug addicts have their fix, and more. After the jump, find something exciting to discuss this weekend in the home, at the bar, or on the street.
