Dan Rather is no druggie, but he has said some interesting things about drugs over the years. See also Bizarre.

"I had someone at the Houston police station shoot me with heroin so I could do a story about it. The experience was a special kind of hell. I came out understanding full well how one could be addicted to 'smack,' and quickly."
--Dan Rather in Ladies' Home Journal, July 1980 edition.

"I've tried everything. I can say to you with confidence, I know a fair amount about LSD. I've never been a social user of any of these things, but my curiosity has carried me into a lot of interesting areas."
--Dan Rather in Ladies' Home Journal, July 1980 edition.

Asked how he kept such long hours in the aftermath of terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, Rather offered this explanation:
"I knew from going through long periods on the air before—following the Challenger explosion, for instance—that this wasn't going to be one day but day after day. Early on I remember saying to myself, 'You have to pace yourself.' Keeping your energy up is not hard in a situation like this, but I did rely on something I call "zoom juice," a heavy protein mixture that's whipped up in a blender. Frankly I don't know what's in the damn stuff—someone on my staff makes it—but it's good for a few reasons: It gives you a burst of energy, you can gulp it down quickly, and it's liquid, so you're not chewing when you come back on the air."
--Dan Rather in an interview for Texas Monthly, November 2001.

"I have a great passion for news. And I know that it can be more addictive than crack cocaine once you get into it,"
--Dan Rather to host Brian Lamb on C-SPAN's Booknotes, January 25, 1999.

"I got addicted. News, particularly daily news, is more addictive than crack cocaine, more addictive than heroin, more addictive than cigarettes."
--Dan Rather in an interview for Brill's Content, October 1998.

Dan Rather spoke to college students at Boston University who were considering reporting careers:
"Be careful. Journalism is more addictive than crack cocaine. Your life can get out of balance."
--Quoted in the Boston Herald, October 22, 2000. print_file('footer'); ?>