148 Drug Quotes About the Effects of Drug Use

By Nia Simone McLeod

Writer, Video Editor & Pop Culture Enthusiast

Published November 8, 2023

These drug quotes will remind you how drug use can affect your mind, body, and spirit.

Tell us which of these drug quotes resonated with you the most in the comment section below.

What are the benefits of reading these drug quotes?

Stepping away from a life of drug abuse is no easy feat.

Loving (and supporting) someone with a substance abuse problem can challenge many families.

These drug quotes will:

help you understand the effect that drugs have on the user and their families
offer motivation to stay drug-free
offer family members new perspectives

To help you along the way, we have compiled these inspirational quotes about drug use to remind you how drugs can affect your mind, body, and spirit.

Use the drug quotes below to motivate you toward a sober lifestyle.

For more inspiration, also check out our list of recovery and addiction quotes to help you heal.

If you like this article, we suggest you explore our most popular quotes article, a list of short inspirational quotes for daily encouragement.

Read more related content on our inspirational quotes category page.

Drug Quotes about the effects of drugs

1. “Drugs and alcohol are the cruel engine of many an artists’ creativity.” – Nathan Hartzenberg

2. “Drugs are a bet with the mind.” – Jim Morrison

3. “That’s all drugs and alcohol do, they cut off your emotions in the end.” – Ringo Starr

4. “There’s not a drug on Earth that can make life meaningful.” – Sarah Kane

5. “Drugs take you to hell, disguised as heaven.” — Donald Lyn Frost

6. “Addiction begins with the hope that something ‘out there’ can instantly fill up the emptiness inside.” – Jean Kilbourne

7. “Drugs are a waste of time. They destroy your memory and your self-respect and everything that goes along with your self-esteem.” – Kurt Cobain

8. “The mentality and behavior of drug addicts and alcoholics is wholly irrational until you understand that they are completely powerless over their addiction.” – Russell Brand

9. “All the suffering, stress, and addiction comes from not realizing you already are what you are looking for.“ – Jon Kabat-Zinn

You will also enjoy our article on quotes on addiction.

10. “Addiction is like a curse and until it is broken, its victim will perpetually remain in the shackles of bondage.“ – Oche Otorkpa

Drug quotes about smoking cigarettes

11. “Giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world. I know because I’ve done it thousands of times.” – Mark Twain

You will also enjoy our article on plato quotes.

12. “The believing we do something when we do nothing is the first illusion of tobacco.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

13. “Smoking helps you lose weight, one lung at a time!” – Alfred E. Neuman

14. “Smoking is related to practically every terrible thing that can happen to you.” – Loni Anderson

15. “It’s better to hold a book between your fingers than to hold a cigarette.”― Bista Nirooj

16. “If you ever lit a cigarette in your life, you have very little will to live.” – Neale Donald Walsch

17. “A cigarette is the only consumer product which when used as directed kills its consumer.” – Gro Brundtland

18. “Lungs are meant to be filled with air, not smoke.”― Anthony T. Hincks

19. “Rather than you smoking a cigarette, the cigarette is really smoking you.” – Anthony Liccione

20. “It’s not the cigarette that kills you, it’s the thoughts behind the cigarette that does.”― Raghu Venkatesh

Don’t forget to also read these quotes about drug addiction to inspire recovery.

Drug quotes about drinking alcohol

21. “Drunkenness is nothing but voluntary madness.” – Seneca

22. “Alcohol decimated the working class and so many people.” – Martin Scorsese

If you’re enjoying these quotes, make sure to read our collection of Martin Scorsese quotes from the iconic director.

23. “Alcoholism is a disease of the whole person.” – Maurice Gelinas

24. “Alcohol does not solve problems but becomes a problem in itself.” – Amit Abraham

25. “Alcohol is a good preservative for everything but brains.” – Mary Pettibone Poole

26. “Alcoholism is a thief of health, mental sanity, and human dignity.” – Dr. T.P. Chia

27. “Alcohol is a make-you-stupid drug.” – Beverly A. Potter & Sebastian Orfali

28. “To dispute with a drunkard is to debate with an empty house.” – Publilius Syrus

29. “Drinking is fun! It makes me feel horrible and sexy!”― Warren Ellis

More drug quotes about alcoholism

30. “First you take a drink, then the drink takes a drink, then the drink takes you.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald

31. “One more drink and I’ll be under the host.”― Mae West

32. “You know you’re an alcoholic when you misplace things, like a decade.” – Paul Williams

33. “Alcohol is the reduced form of spirit. Therefore, many people, lacking spirit, take to drink. They fill themselves with alcohol.“ – Carl Jung

34. “Alcohol is one of the quickest vehicles with which we escape shyness, our problems, and self-consciousness, for a few hours.” – Mokokoma Mokhonoana

35. “I like liquor, its tastes and effects, and that is just the reason why I’ll never drink it.” – Stonewall Jackson

36. “One reason I don’t drink is that I want to know when I am having a good time.” – Lady Astor

37. “Drinking makes such fools of people, and people are such fools to begin with, that it’s compounding a felony.” – Robert Benchley

Drug quotes about being drug-free

38. “Sobriety was the greatest gift I ever gave myself.” – Rob Lowe

39. “Drugs are not always necessary, but belief in recovery always is.” – Norman Cousins

40. “Sometimes becoming drug-free has less to do with addiction and more to do with sanity.” – Shane Koyczan

41. “Drugs are the enemies of ambition and hope, and when we fight against drugs we are fighting for the future.” – Bob Riley

42. “A strong positive attitude will create more miracles than any wonder drug.” – Patricia Neal

43. “It’s been one of the greatest challenges that ever came along in my life; it was one of the more difficult things to do.” – Buzz Aldrin

44. “I had some money, I made the best paintings ever. I was completely reclusive, worked a lot, took a lot of drugs. I was awful to people.” ― Jean-Michel Basquiat

45. “If you can quit for a day, you can quit for a lifetime.“ – Benjamin Alire Sáenz

46. “I don’t need drugs to make my life tragic.” —Eddie Vedder

47. “It takes a strong person to stand up to his or her fate and overcome the obstacles that stand in the way of freedom and success, but I believe in you.“ – Pax Prentiss

48. “I used drugs to feel better. I quit drugs to be better.“ – Unknown

49. “Days will pass, and you’ll abandon things you were addicted to, and leave someone, and cancel a dream, and finally, accept a reality.“ – Nizar Qabbani

50. “Getting sober was one of the three pivotal events in my life, along with becoming an actor and having a child. Of the three, finding my sobriety was the hardest thing.” – Robert Downey, Jr.

Drug quotes to help cut addiction

51. “Recovery is hard. Regret is harder.” – Brittany Burgunder

52. “It is easier to stay out than get out. – Mark Twain

53. “Alcoholism is a disease that creates temporary madness and insanity. Drug addiction is a disease that destroys health and humanity.” – Dr T.P.Chia

54. “You should just say no to drugs. That will drive the prices down.” – Geechy Guy

55. “The drug addict does not care about what is important or worthwhile in life, such as family, career, finance, and social relationships.” – Dr T.P.Chia

56. “Cocaine is God’s way of saying you’re making too much money.” – Robin Williams

57. “I’ve never had a problem with drugs. I’ve had problems with the police.” – Keith Richards

58. “I used to have a drug problem, now I make enough money.” – David Lee Roth

59. “Thou hast the keys of Paradise, oh just, subtle, and mighty opium!” – Thomas De Quincey

60. “Don’t do drugs because if you do drugs you’ll go to prison, and drugs are really expensive in prison.” – John Hardwick

Drug quotes to think about for a substance-free lifestyle

61. “Drug misuse is not a disease, it is a decision, like the decision to step out in front of a moving car. You would call that not a disease but an error of judgment.” ― Philip Dick

62. “We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold.” ― Hunter S. Thompson

63. “In her glamorous quest for the darkest light and the lowest high, she now found herself wallowing on the bottom of a filthy garbage bin.” ― Terri Blackstock

64. “It is impossible to understand addiction without asking what relief the addict finds, or hopes to find, in the drug or the addictive behaviour.” ― Gabor Mate

65. “There was a time when I was able to wake up, go to sleep, and have fun without a pill or a line to help me function. These days it felt like I might have a nervous breakdown if I didn’t have them.” ― Cherie Currie

66. “I didn’t care if he was a genius or a fucking idiot, he was rotting away, and it wasn’t fun to watch.” ― Anthony Kiedis

67. “People can become addicted to fame, money, and attention as deeply as they become addicted to drugs.” ― Dennis Prager

68. “I was making frequent use of cocaine at that time … I had been the first to recommend the use of cocaine, in 1885, and this recommendation had brought serious reproaches down on me.” ― Sigmund Freud

69. “Drugs suck more than anything else I have ever liked so much.” ― Ashly Lorenzana

70. “It was the hardest boyfriend I ever had to break up with [referring to crystal methamphetamines]” ― Fergie

Drug Quotes That Will Get You Thinking

71. “Drugs or overeating or alcohol or sex, it was all just another way to find peace. To escape what we know. Our education. Our bite of the apple.” — Chuck Palahniuk

72. “The drug culture has shaped at least one major change since the Sixties; It became the basis for overloading our prisons.” — Jimmy Carter

73. “Penalties against drug use should not be more damaging to an individual than the use of the drug itself.” — Jimmy Carter

74. “All any drug amounts to is tweaking the incoming data. You have to be incredibly self-centered or pathetic to be satisfied with simply tweaking the incoming data.” — William Gibson

75. “Drugs take away the dream from every child’s heart and replace it with a nightmare, and it’s time we in America stand up and replace those dreams.” — Nancy Reagan

76. “Don’t waste good drugs on killing yourself. Share them with friends and have a party. Or send them to me.” — Chuck Palahniuk

77. “You can turn back on a person, but you can never turn your back on a drug, especially when it’s waving a razor sharp hunting knife in your eye.” — Hunter S. Thompson

78. “Drugs are reality’s legal loopholes.” — Jeremy P. Johnson

79. “Drugs have taught an entire generation of American kids the metric system.” — P. J. O’Rourke

80. “You find out so many interesting things when you’re not on drugs.” — Boy George

Short Drug Quotes To Elevate Your Mind

81. “Drugs is suicide, paid in installments.” — Titus Lenk

82. “Any kind of drug is a self-deception, which eventually turns into remorse.” — Franz Schmidberger

83. “It is not the use of drugs that is the problem, but the abuse.” — Patrick Betsch

84. “Whether you sniff it smoke it eat it or shove it up your ass the result is the same: addiction.” — William S. Burroughs

85. “If you abuse a drug, it takes you captive.” — Adreas Tenzer

86. “Under drugs you do not find yourself, but only your shadow.” — Konstantin Wecker

87. “It’s not the drugs that make a drug addict, it’s the need to escape reality.” — Sense8

88. “The best drug is a clear head.” — Harald Juhnke

89. “Indians have a big problem with alcohol and drugs. I grew up with an admiration for their culture and was sensitive to their problems.” ― Kirstie Alley

90. “A drug is not bad. A drug is a chemical compound. The problem comes in when people who take drugs treat them like a license to behave like an asshole.” — Frank Zappa

Drug Quotes On Different Effects Of Drugs

91. “Everyone thinks I do heroin. It’s not even true, I do crystal meth.” ― Josh Henderson

92. “Addicts are addicted to their drugs, and their families are addicted to hope.” ― Fredrik Backman

93. “Always say no to drugs. It will drive the prices down.” ― Jim Davidson

94. “I’m sure most people have this experience: when you’re young you drink, you do drugs, you stay up late, and there are no consequences.” ― Moby

95. “Seems like everybody wants to know if an athlete is on drugs, so you got to stay clear of wild people.” ― Moses Malone

96. “I am glad that people are trying to have a rational conversation about drugs.” ― Carl Hart

97. “Drugs and drinking affect every family I know, country and city, middle-class and poor.” ― Bonnie Jo Campbell

98. “I’ve quit drugs and drinking and been into healthy stuff like yoga.” ― Princess Superstar

99. “It touches on drug use. I got caught up in that for almost two years.” ― Elliott Smith

100. I don’t think any drug that can cause brain damage, failing kidneys, hardening arteries, pain, and suffering should be made available.” ― Layne Staley

Drug Quotes On How It Influences Consumers

101. We have to do more about addiction, not only drugs, but also alcohol.” ― Hillary Clinton

102. I don’t like to go out to clubs, because I find myself seeing remnants of drugs in the bathroom.” ― Demi Lovato

103. “Drugs are horrible; I say no to drugs. I’ve never done drugs in my life.” ― Vince Staples

104. “We have to have strong borders. We have to keep the drugs out of America.” ― Donald Trump

105. “The thing about our drug laws is that they’re not based on science.” ― Maia Szalavitz

106. “The problem with drugs is that most of the people that use the drugs, use it as a license to be an asshole.” ― Frank Zappa

107. “This stuff [marijuana] keeps me sane and happy. I’d say it’s a great drug – but obviously it’s not very healthy.” ― George Michael

108. “We should decriminalize all drugs. The assumptions on which our drug policies are based are flawed.” ― Carl Hart

109. “Of course I miss [drugs]. And anyone who tells you they don’t is lying.” ― Carrie Fisher

110. “I’ve only ever been interested in drugs as therapeutic tools.” ― Ayelet Waldman

Drug Quotes For Drug Dealers

111. It’s not in doubt that tobacco is far more lethal than hard drugs.” — Noam Chomsky

112. “You don’t have to be a drug addict to care for your mind.” — Demi Lovato

113. Drugs didn’t work out too well for me.” — Anthony Bourdain

114. “Old people go to the polls because they can’t get erections, young people stay home, do drugs and have sex.” — Moby

115. “I never sold drugs. A lot of people used to think I was that dude but I never sold a crumb. I used to always be upset with that.” — Rakim

116. “I think our drug laws need to be made scientifically, as best as possible, recognizing that values will always be part of that.” — Maia Szalavitz

117. “I looked into [Prozac]. I must say that it is certainly a wonder drug.” — Leonard Cohen

118. “I’ve spent a fair amount of time down at the worlder. I’ve been down there and helped arrest people that are smuggling drugs in.” — Steve King

119. “They don’t consider nicotine as a drug. Why don’t they put it together with all the other drugs?” — Laura Huxley

120. “I hear heroin is a very popular drug these days.” — David Lynch

Drug Quotes To Secure Your Health

121. “I take really good care of myself. I promised myself long ago that I would never miss a hunting season, never poison my sacred temple with drugs, alcohol, tobacco or bad food.” — Ted Nugent

122. “America is becoming a drug infested nation. Drugs are becoming cheaper than candy bars. We are not going to let it happen any longer.” — Donald Trump

123. “I’m not a drug user myself. I’m too little to take drugs – my body can’t take it.” — Winona Ryder

124. “We have a massive heroin opioid epidemic problem in America, part of that is because of drugs coming from the cartels from the south.” — Paul Ryan

125. “We’ve begin a nationwide effort to remove criminal aliens, gang members, drug dealers and others who pose a threat to public safety.” — Donald Trump

126. “If you have no drugs, then you have revolution, and then drugs will be the only thing stopping that.” — Irvine Welsh

127. I think it would be fair and right to use some of my land and wealth for a drug-rehab center or an Indian school.” — George Carlin

128. “Like any tool [drugs] can help you or hurt you.” — Joe Rogan

129. “There are many ways of communicating. Some hold the theory that new forms of communication between people can be obtained through hallucinogenic drugs.” — Michelangelo Antonioni

130. “You know, if a drug has anything going for it at all, it should be self-limiting. It should tell you when you’ve had enough. Acid and peyote were that way for me.” — George Carlin

Drug Quotes To Encourage You To Strategise Towards Sobriety

131. “Drugs age you after mental excitement. Lethargy then. Why? Reaction. A lifetime in a night. Gradually changes your character.” ― James Joyce

132. “I don’t do drugs. If I want a rush I just stand up when I’m not expecting it.”

― Dylan Moran

133. “Just say no to drugs!” — Nancy Reagan

134. “Viagra is a drug, just like cocaine. It can cause you to become addicted.” — Jackie Collins

135. “Drugs are tearing apart our societies, spawning crime, spreading diseases such as AIDS, and killing our youth and our future.” — Kofi Annan

136. “Every form of addiction is bad, no matter whether the narcotic be alcohol, morphine or idealism.” ― Carl Gustav Jung

137. “…most Substance-addicted people are also addicted to thinking, meaning they have a compulsive and unhealthy relationship with their own thinking.” ― David Foster Wallace

138. “I don’t drink or do drugs anymore. I realized I wasn’t going to live up to my potential, and that scared the hell out of me. I thought, ‘Wow, I’m actually gonna ruin my life. I’m really gonna ruin it.” — Bradley Cooper

139. “Drugs, what a devil-inspired poison! It’s death on the installment plan.” ― David Wilkerson

140. “Once you know where drugs and alcohol will take you, you can never enjoy them the same way again.” ― Danny Trejo

141. “How can we speak about “drugs”? It is like speaking about the human race – each person is different, each drug is different!” ― Laura Huxley

142. “People charged with drug offenses, though, are typically poor people of color. They are routinely charged with felonies and sent to prison.” ― Michelle Alexander

143. “I didn’t even think I would make it that long. I thought I would drug overdose, like Jimi Hendrix. I thank God every day to even be here.” ― Rick James

144. “I function because I am on drugs.” ― Sharon Needles

145. “Everything in life is not all beautiful, not all fun. There is lots of killing and drugs.” ― Tupac Shakur

146. “I found that you don’t have to do drugs to have a great time. Music is a great drug on its own.” ― Dennis Quaid

147. “I was covering up for the fact that I was doing drugs. It was a very weird lifestyle.” ― Fergie

148. “Getting clean made me grow up. I feel like all the years that I was using drugs, I wasn’t growing as a person.” ― Eminem