Rebel, Rebel: David Bowie and Cannabis

We lost an icon recently. A man who not only created his own unique form of glam rock, but has been a household name and a player on the radio for over 40 years. Not everyone who listens to Ziggy Stardust knows, however, that David Bowie had a history with cannabis, and advocated for its use up until his death. At the beginning of his career, Bowie went by his given name, Davy Jones, and he played folk music. He was tired of being confused with Davy Jones from the pop band The Monkees throughout the 1960s, and he was also tired of struggling as a folk musician. Davy wanted a new identity, and a whole new style. In 1967 he unofficially changed his name, and his self-titled album, David Bowie was not a huge success.

Two years later in the spring of 1969, after his first album flopped, Bowie began a relationship with the woman who lived in the London apartment below his own, a 30-year-old mother of two. Her name was Mary Finnigan, and some might say she introduced David Bowie to cannabis. He was 22 years old when they met, and working on a song about an astronaut named Major Tom. When Mary heard his music from above, she was interested in him and asked if he wanted to try a cup of tea with some cannabis tincture. Their relationship went forward from there, and in Mary’s memoirs she mentions their continued cannabis and hash use throughout their six-month relationship. At one point, Bowie moved in with Mary and her kids, but he was also involved in other relationships, so things never got very serious between them. Mary’s relationship with Bowie, and the relationship he had with Mary’s children, is said to have inspired Space Oddity. A song which ended up as Bowie’s first #1 single in UK.

Fast forward about six years, and David Bowie is on Tour with Iggy Pop and The Stooges. On March 22, 1976, they play a show in Rochester, New York, with Bowie opening for the band. At 2:25am, the Rochester Vice Police arrested Bowie and Iggy Pop, among others. They were charged with the possession of 182 grams, almost half a pound, of cannabis. Bowie bailed out every single person that was arrested that night, and then continued on tour with The Stooges. Four days later he plead, “Not guilty, sir,” to the New York State judge and was set to go back to court in April that year. The punchline of the whole story is that his court date was set for 4/20/1976, but Bowie didn’t even show up! He never appeared for his hearing, but was also never was sentenced because a grand jury refused to indict him. Who could imprison the Thin White Duke?

After Bowie’s run in with the law, he continued to produce fantastic music, and his persona changed with time. He sold an estimated 140 million records worldwide, and he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. Although not many people knew about his struggle with cancer, he was well aware of the struggle his daughter-in-law was having with the same disease. Bowie’s son, Duncan Jones, is a film director in his 30s. Rodene, his wife, uses a cannabis tincture to treat the effects of her chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer. Bowie was not only in full support of her use of the tincture, probably because he used the same kind with Mary Finnigan in 1969, he has advocated for Rodene many times, and would have continued to advocate for the medical benefits of cannabis. He could have been imprisoned for 15 years for carrying cannabis, but instead he became an advocate for something that has helped his family. David Bowie will always be remembered by past generations, and generations to come, as the Goblin King, the Starman, and a major figure in popular music for over five decades. He will always be idolized because of his incredible music, and it makes sense that cannabis may have been one of many influences on Bowie’s amazing mind, and illustrious career.