One of the most remarkable traits found among addicts is the ability to generate some pretty twisted convictions. Probably every known drug of choice bestows the same side effect: the ability to rationalize any behavior, as long it delivers the substance into the user.

The infamous Dr. Nichopoulos, for instance, reported about his famous patient that in the Elvis universe, as long as the supplier was an M.D., a person couldn’t be an addict. The quote was, “By getting drugs from a doctor, he wasn’t the common everyday junkie getting something off the street.”

In the addiction field, “denial” is a legitimate diagnosis. Here we see a prime example of it, in the notion that the only real junkies are the ones who buy from a sleazy-looking individual in an alley, at night. Untold numbers of wealthy users have held firmly to the belief that, as long as they got their supply from a medical professional (or maybe a member of a royal family, or an out-of-work actor on a film set), everything was okay.

An earlier post described Presley’s astonishing daily intake which included seconal, nembutal, valium, quaaludes, demerol, and more. Among such bounty, it may never have been possible to determine which drugs he was technically, clinically addicted to. But can there be any doubt whatsoever, that he was addicted to the singular mission of using them to kill himself ? It was a long, drawn-out suicide in slow motion, witnessed and assisted by the crew that Elvis had chosen to take care of him.

Over the decades, many gorgeous, handsome, famous, and wealthy individuals have used heavy drugs, to the point of becoming addicted, with pretty much full knowledge of what they were doing to themselves. Los Angeles and other entertainment capitals also contain many burnt-out souls who had previously fit those descriptions, until unhealthy lifestyles caught up with them.

Even after decades of seeing widely publicized and almost universally condemned examples of self-ruination by drugs, the general public still seems to have trouble understanding what motivates someone who “has everything” to choose this course. The literature is enormous, but despite the plenitude of drug fatality case studies available, Elvis is still an outstanding example.

Some information came from Priscilla Presley, who affirmed her husband’s difficulty in sleeping without the aid of chemicals. The ability to rationalize one’s behavior comes in handy in a situation like this, and the fact that everything Elvis swallowed or injected came with a written prescription gave him unlimited permission. Priscilla noted that this “made a big difference in his mind,” to the point where he was unaware of having a drug problem. He was just a good ol’ Southern boy, taking his pills like the doctor said to.

The craziness went even further, and journalist Callum Crumlish quotes Priscilla Presley again, regarding her husband’s mindset, in which this proposition made perfect sense:

He hated street drugs and campaigned for their elimination. So how could he be an addict himself?

When encouraged to confront Elvis about his need to seek help, or to stage a classic intervention, she insisted that he would simply brush the matter aside with a laugh. In his mind he was neither a criminal, nor an addict, nor a sick person who needed help — but an actual hero. To combat the drug menace, he claimed to have done a lot of work behind the scenes — whatever that means. In his own estimation, he was absolved of being a slave to his own addiction.

In 1970, jacked up on amphetamines, Elvis met with Richard Nixon, and asked to be appointed as a “Federal Agent-at-Large” within the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs. (Didn’t happen, but Elvis was given a federal narcotics badge.)

He believed that his star status could influence the kids, which was correct but probably not in the way he meant. Elvis dissed the Beatles as anti-American, and Nixon remarked that “those who use drugs are also at the vanguard of anti-American protest”.

Then, Elvis presented the U.S. President with a Colt .45 pistol, though how such an item was even allowed through the door is difficult to understand. Elvis bought himself at least 250 firearms, so maybe he could be classified as a gun addict too? He gave some of them to women who had been temporary companions.

An uncredited author noted that “he was a compulsive eater who kept a snack-filled refrigerator in his bedroom, sometimes sent his valet to buy $100 worth of popsicles at 3 a.m., and weighed 225 pounds at his death.” Obviously, all this was heading nowhere good.

Written by Pat Hartman. First published October 10, 2025.

Sources:

“Elvis Presley ‘refused to believe’ he had a drug problem,” Express.co.uk, February 13, 2023.

“Elvis Presley’s Historic Meeting with President Nixon: The King of Rock and Roll Takes on the War on Drugs,” 247AroundTheWorld.co.uk, April 2, 2025.

“When Elvis met Nixon: The bizarre story behind this photo,” BBC.com, March 29, 2016.

“Elvis cheated on the high notes,” UPI.com , October 8, 1981.

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