Observations placeholder
Harris, Bob - On taking drugs and the effects of LSD
Identifier
023158
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
Despite being surrounded by people taking drugs for most of his working life, Bob is anti-drugs in a major way. On the one occasion when he had drugs – his drink was spiked, he was very ill.
A description of the experience
Bob Harris – Still Whispering after all these years
Drugs and rockn’roll have always had a close relationship, often more overt in the bomb proof world of superstardom. Personally, I’ve acquired a strong aversion to hard drugs in general, cocaine in particular. It’s a very insidious persuasive addiction, fooling users by making them feel indestructible, whilst stripping away their health, their self respect and their bank account.
If you ever thought that getting into drugs was a good idea, the appearance of Paul Kissoff on Whistle Test in 1975, a few months before his death, must surely have changed your mind. Totally disoriented and incapable of cohesive speech, he should never have been wheeled out into the studio in front of live television cameras…………………
Alexis [Korner] took Sue and me to see Bob Marley in 1975. The music was fantastic, but it turned out to be a nightmare experience.
Midway through the evening I began to feel really weird. Midway through the evening I began to feel really weird. I couldn’t understand what on earth was happening, everything seemed to be turning into liquid in front of my eyes.
I felt an uncontrollable urge to dive into the pool of people around me. I couldn’t understand why I couldn’t find Sue, who reappeared to tell me she’d been sick and urgently suggested we leave. Someone offered to run us home and we piled into a Mini, the sunroof open on that hot June night. As we drove along the West End of London, the buildings seem to be bending over and coming in through the gap in the roof, ejecting a thick liquid into the car that I really thought was going to drown us. Sue tried to restrain me as, consumed by terror, I desperately tried to haul us out of the car.
Some how we made it home, but the problem of getting me up the 67 stairs of our mansion block was immense. I was violently sick as I fell in through the front door, feeling gruesomely unwell. Sue dialled 999.
It was LSD. Someone had spiked our drinks….
What I knew for certain was that I never wanted to experience anything like it again.