‘Drugs. With America tearing itself apart, split down the middle about everything, everybody pointing a finger at everybody else, there was no way anyone in the counterculture was about to admit that drugs were a problem. Drugs were what first turned a lot of people on. The nightmare consequences of marijuana as conjured up by such unforgettable phrases as “killer weed” and (a 1930s movie) Reefer Madness became part of our disdain for all drug-related information that had been passed down to us. The red-eyed, zapped-out grass smoker became an affectionate member of R. Crumb’s cartoon populace. (Flies buzzing around their heads, all the women with mammoth breasts and jutting buttocks, all lusting after each other all the time. And Mr.. Natural, white-bearded guru for the kids, on the make himself. “What’s it mean, Mr.. Natural?” “Don’ mean sheeit.”) Or a strip from London’s OZ magazine: a long- hair walking down the street, a bubble emanating from his head. The bubble is full of swirls and crescent moons, lizards and stars. The long-hair notices a cop across the street, and suddenly the bubble retracts into his head, like toothpaste back into a tube, until the cop passes, and then once again, his eyes popping out, the long-hair’s manic visions sprawl as a smile creeps across his face. ‘
From ETHAN RUSSELL: AN AMERICAN STORY available here.
