Drugs or Artistic Catalyst

 "After the first glass, you see things as you wish they were. After the second, you see things as they are not. Finally, you see things as they really are, and that is the most horrible thing in the world." (Oscar Wilde referring to absinthe)

             It’s no secret, drugs are out there, people do them and some die because of them.  Drugs have been a part of life through out the ages and various drugs are still around today. There is no sign that they will be leaving us any time soon.  Some would say that drugs are a huge problem in our society today and the pressure on teenagers is getting to be quite much, as well as police stated at Statistics Canada that in 2002 there were almost 93,000 controlled drug incidences and 22% were related to trafficking, the rest were split up into production and possession charges.  This shows that drugs are among us.

             Yet drugs have been known to influence some things that we may consider to be our passions or what some people claim to live for.  Drugs have been used to create many things. Through the years Drugs have made some major contributions in the realms literature, art, and music.

             Philip K. Dick was an author who wrote many science fiction novels that have been turned into movies over the years, such as: Minority Report, We Can Remember it For You Wholesale (a.k.a. Total Recall), and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?(a.k.a. Blade Runner). There was a point in his life when from 1963 to 1964 he experimented with, methamphetamine Semoxydrine which is just one of the many forms of “Meth”. During this time he went berserk with his writing and wrote 11 science fiction novels as well as some essays and short stories. Some say that these were some of his most in interesting and philosophically dark works. This binge ultimately led to addiction which would eventually influence of his later novels.  Another to experiment with drugs was the English author Thomas De Quincey who was addicted to opium for the better part of his life.  His experiences – or most likely addiction- with opium led to the writings of: Confession of an English Opium Eater. Which is a somewhat dark and eerie story of his opium experiences, and although it was the opium that helped influence him, he was frowned upon for influencing people to try opium because of how he would depict his experiences.

             The use of drugs or hallucinogens for the purpose of creating art such as paintings has created quite beautiful pieces by artists and a reoccurring theme of Absinthe and painters. Absinthe is a drink originated in France with hallucinogenic qualities.  Absinthe was deemed an evil drink on account that that is what Van Gogh was drinking when he cut his ear off.  Van Gogh was an extremely well known painter who painted exquisite abstract art and was known to drink absinthe heavily on the account of that he was epileptic and a common treatment was the drinking of absinthe.  Another artist to indulge in absinthe was Edgar Degas who painted “L'absinthe” (The Absinthe Drinkers) which tried to show the popularity of absinthe depicting 2 addicts in a café.

             Music is almost entirely shaped on drugs, giving you an image or even a certain sound. Jazz for instance went hand in hand with drugs which spawned a style named, “acid jazz”.  The use of drugs in a jazz setting was used to create new drum beats.  Since the 60’s artist began to be more open about drugs. Bands such as The Beatles, David Bowie, The Doors, Nirvana, Jimmy Hendrix and Neil Young the -list is to long to write- have all created songs that had to do with drugs. As well as some songs involving drugs have been major hits, such as, “Under the Bridge” a song by The Red Hot Chilli Peppers about singer Anthony Kiedis' heroine addiction.  Chances are if listen to music you have hears a song about drugs or influenced drugs.

             In conclusion drugs have been a big part of our history and through the years drugs have made some major contributions in the realms literature, art, and music.  So maybe we should respect people for there choices and if you say you don’t like drugs and what not, then why support them?  And it also makes you wonder how these people can create something so beautiful from something so dark.