Yesterday, a Gallup poll announced that 13% of Americans smoke Marijuana.

Think of music and drugs, and you probably think of Bob Marley, the Beatles, Snoop Dogg, Janis Joplin … the list goes on and on – drug use is so commonplace among the famous that it’s simply accepted as a natural part of being an star entertainer. Of course, there are also the many tragic deaths due to overdose …

But before the turbulent 1960’s, were drugs and music a regular mixer? Is there any drug-inspired Art Music from yesteryear?

The first thing that comes to mind are Scriabin‘s Poem of Ecstasy, Glière‘s Red Poppy, Debussy‘s Evaporated Soul, and for those of you consider caffeine to be a drug, Bach‘s Coffee Cantata. I’m joking about these, of course. But I’m not joking about Berlioz’s March to the Scaffold, which the composer admitted was an opium trip. And then there’s this largely unknown piece by Sergei Lyapunov, a tone poem called Hashish.