How Jerry Garcia’s death affected sales of LSD
It’s difficult for people who weren’t alive then to comprehend just how transformative the countercultural period was. The refreshing smell of optimism was in the air as collaboration abounded, the arts kicked into gear, free love took hold, and recreational drugs became widespread. One group that came to symbolise this era was the Grateful Dead, with their leader Jerry Garcia, one of the ultimate hippie icons.
The Grateful Dead are legends for many reasons. Of course, the most crucial was their breezy music, a fusion of psychedelia, folk, and Americana. They were pioneers of the live jam, often taking their already extensive songs to new heights by collectively feeling the sonic character of the music and locking in together, creating pure hypnosis for themselves and their legions of fans, the Deadheads.
It wasn’t just the Dead’s heady live shows and extensive back catalogue that made them countercultural heroes. The band were also at the centre of the epoch in terms of its penchant for LSD and drug taking. Famously, they played Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters’ Acid Test parties in the San Francisco Bay Area in the mid-1960s, which were pivotal in advocating LSD use and inextricably fusing it with the counterculture’s music.
While the Dead were still called The Warlocks when they rocked up to their first Acid Test with no instruments, this was a formative experience, and they soon became the house band for the revelries. These nights also became significant for their trajectory, allowing them to expand their scope and hone their craft as the improvisational masters they have long since been celebrated as.
After those early experiences when hammering out their sound, LSD became a favourite drug of the Grateful Dead’s. It would go on to play a part in their songwriting process, live shows, and other capers, such as the time Garcia accidentally ate a cake dosed with 800 hits of acid before they were to play at the legendary Fillmore Theatre.
While Grateful Dead came to be synonymous with the hippie ideal and LSD voyaging, such heavy drug use would take its toll on the band, particularly Garcia, who developed a severe heroin addiction, which took a toll on his life. After trying to get clean, tragically, Garcia died in his room at his rehabilitation clinic in August 1995. He was 53.
Interestingly, following his death, the sales of LSD started to slow down. According to one Drug Enforcement Administration agent in a 2004 Slate report, the Grateful Dead shows were pivotal in connecting LSD dealers and buyers. After they stopped playing after Garcia’s passing, sales declined markedly due to not having this incubatory environment. Naturally, without the Dead, some of their fans became lovers of their younger adherents, Phish, but after Trey Anastasio’s group quit touring in 2000, sales of the drug plummeted further.
As we know, drugs are still used at concerts today, across the genres, yet it’s astounding that the Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia had such a substantial effect on the LSD market. I wonder which artist is responsible for the most ketamine sales.
