Elvis Presley and Drugs
During the night of August 16, 1977, the world lost an icon, Elvis
Presley. There are numerous reasons that doctors, the press and his fans
have believed that caused his untimely death. Things such as heart
disease, bone cancer, cirrhosis of the liver, that he faked his own
death and drug abuse. Most of these theories have been ruled out, except
for, of course, drug abuse. What would make Elvis Presley, a well known
anti drug advocate, resort to drug abuse? No one will ever know for sure
what made him turn to drugs. In my opinion, some of the biggest factors
leading to his involvement with prescription drugs are the loss of his
twin brother, his mother and his wife, his weight issues and the
pressure of a highly stressful and public life.
Being an icon is not an easy job. Growing up dirt poor in rural
Mississippi and then becoming one of the world’s most beloved
entertainers is quite an unlikely occurrence. Elvis’ family life was
often very stressful because they hardly had any money. Elvis would have
up to three after school jobs to try and make it easier on his family to
make ends meet. When Elvis was nineteen, he walked into Sun Records on
Memphis’ Beale Street, to record two songs for his mom, Gladys’
birthday. The two songs cost him $3.98, which was quite a lot of money
for the young man, but his mother’s happiness was invaluable. This was a
defining moment for Elvis’ career, the rest was basically history. When
Elvis first came into the public’s spotlight, he couldn’t get enough of
the attention; in fact, he craved it. Hopping from town to town, being
on the covers of numerous fan magazines and having his pick from any
girl in the country.
Being only 21, he was still quite immature and just wanted to have fun.
He often visited with the reporters and fans camping outside his house.
He stayed behind after shows and signed every last autograph, his fans
were the most important thing and he didn’t want to disappoint them. At
the very height of his career, he got drafted to the army. Elvis was
distraught, he wanted to serve his country but he was afraid after being
gone for two years would ruin his career. The stress of army life during
the day and partying all night in Germany, a sergeant in his Elvis’
division gave him his first dose of Dexedrine. Elvis, up to that point,
had never taken a drink, smoked or consumed any sort of drug. But taking
the Dexy’s seemed like good alternative. Once he got back home, his
career was still booming, he needed more and more of the pills to keep
up with his career. Soon
enough, the Dexedrine stopped working as well; Elvis began looking for a
new alternative: placidyls. Uppers, downers, sleeping pills and diet
pills soon became and constant fixture in Elvis’ life. He’d take a pill
to go to sleep; he’d take one to wake up in the morning, no one could
stop him on this slow, downward spiral. In the 1970’s, his drug use was
at an all time high. After a very public divorce and a tremendous weight
gain, the public began to wonder what was happening with their King of
Rock’n Roll.
Losing a loved one is a very heartbreaking event. Elvis Aaron Presley,
was born on January 8, 1935 in a little shotgun shack in Tupelo,
Mississippi. He was born alongside his twin brother, Jesse Garon, who
was stillborn, this shook Elvis and his parents, Gladys and Vernon, to
the very core. The death of his twin brother was something that Elvis
could never get over, to him; Jesse was the picture of perfection.
Gladys, Elvis’ mother, clung to her surviving son, making him the center
of her world. As Elvis got older, all he wanted to do is make his mom’s
life easier. Gladys always felt Elvis had the voice of an angel and
Elvis had such a passion for music; he wished he could do it for a
living. Soon enough, Elvis got a band set up and started touring and
making quite a name for himself with his unique brand of music. While
Elvis was touring around the United States, Gladys was at home sick with
worry; her drinking was getting worse and worse. Her weight was
increasing, so she started taking diet pills. Elvis called her every
night while he was on tour, just to check up on his beloved mom. Once he
made it to the big times, Elvis could finally accomplish one of his life
goals, buying his parents a house. He bought the colonial mansion in
Memphis on Elvis Presley Boulevard and named it Graceland. But no matter
what Elvis bought for Gladys or how many gifts he lavished her with; she
just grew more and more depressed. The more Elvis was away, the more she
drank. On August 18, 1958, about a week before Elvis was being shipped
off to Germany with the US Army, Gladys Love Presley died in Memphis.
Elvis was completely distraught; he lost the one woman he ever loved.
During his tour in Germany, Elvis started taking Dexedrine, a pill that
helped you concentrate and stay awake, so that he could stay awake
during the day. Also while he was in the army, he met his future wife, a
then 14 year old Priscilla Beaulieu, the attraction was immediate.
Although he was always a gentleman and never crossed the line before
they were married, Priscilla had moved into Graceland by 1962, at age
16. Throughout the years, Elvis’ career became stagnant; he made 25
movies in only 9 years. The boredom of the scripts made Elvis look for
fun; he became addicted to Dexedrine, as his weight ballooned, so did
his addiction. Soon the pills weren’t working like they used to, and he
started taking various uppers and downers. He and Priscilla tied the
knot in Las Vegas on May 1, 1967 and soon enough Priscilla was pregnant
with their only daughter, Lisa Marie. During this time, Elvis tried to
clean his act up; he started to exercise and tried to wean himself off
of the meds. He had a very successful comeback special in 1968 around
the same time as the birth of his daughter. But it didn’t take long for
the temptation of pills to take its toll.
Soon Elvis and Priscilla were falling apart and in 1972, Priscilla
finally left Elvis for another man. He was crushed and threw himself
into a world full of fatty foods, women and pills.
Having serious weight problems can cause a lot of stress. When Elvis was
little, some days he would go days without food because they just
couldn’t afford it. Once he became famous, he could have whatever he
wanted whenever he wanted. Elvis became known for his particular dining
likes, cheeseburgers with extra grease, peanut butter and banana
sandwiches fried in an inch of butter, and pounds of bacon burnt to a
crisp. Later on in his career, he once chartered an airplane to go to
Denver to pick up his favorite cheeseburgers slathered in extra grease
and bacon, just because he had a craving for it.
Even when Elvis was a rising star in the 50’s, he was known to gain
10-15 pounds and then lose it quickly due to touring. But he weight
always plagued him, as he got older the more difficult it was to keep it
off. That’s where the pills came in handy, he would take diet pills by
the handful to try and keep his weight off. His weight ballooned in the
seventies, and at the time of his death, he was weighed in at 240 pounds
at age 42.
Elvis had to deal with losing loved ones, weight issues and life in the
public eye. His dependency on his mother is a tragic one, they both
became dependent on various diet pills and narcotics and Elvis died
exactly 19 years and two days before his mother. If he hadn’t lost his
mother unexpectedly, Elvis would be remembered today as a completely
different person. It wasn’t till her death that he started to experiment
with drugs. At his autopsy, there were 14 different drugs found in his
system. After his death, Elvis’ private physician was brought to court
on various charges of over prescribing drugs to his clients. Doctor
George C. Nichopoulos was charged with prescribing Elvis 4097 pills in
1975, 6111 pills in 1976 and 8805 pills in 1977. Dr. Nick won his court
case and only got his medical license revoked for six months. As a funny
touch, everyone knows the crazy, unlicensed Dr. Nick from the popular
television show, The Simpson’s, that character is in fact based off of
Elvis’ doctor.
Bibliography
Cole, James P., and Charles C. Thompson II. The Death of Elvis. New
York: Dell
Publishing, 1992
Dunleavy, Steve. Elvis: What Happened? New York: Ballantine Publishing,
1977
Harmon, Sandra, and Priscilla Beaulieu Presley. Elvis and Me. New York:
G.P. Putnam’s
Sons Publishers, 1985
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