From Hollywood Highs to Harrowing Lows: A Drug Dealer's Nightmare Journey
The High Life: A Tale of Addiction and Redemption
Leonard Lee Buschel, a former Hollywood drug dealer, has lived a life that would make even the most hardened thrill-seeker blush. In his new memoir, High, he spills the beans on his wild ride through the world of drugs, sex, and rock 'n' roll.
It all started when Buschel was just 17 years old, trying marijuana for the first time. "Suddenly my life went from black and white to color," he recalls with a mischievous grin. "I knew that I had found a friend for life, a tool for living, the key to the magic kingdom." And indeed, marijuana became his constant companion, always stashed in his pocket or shoulder bag, right next to his asthma inhaler.
As he grew older, Buschel's obsession with drugs only intensified. He dropped out of college to smuggle Lebanese hashish from Israel and peddle it on the streets of Philadelphia, New York, Florida, LA, and San Francisco. His clients included some of the most iconic figures of the 1970s and 1980s, including John Belushi, Richard Pryor, and Robert Downey Sr.
But with great power comes great responsibility, and Buschel's addiction soon took a toll on his health and relationships. He was known to do lines of not-so-well-chopped coke in the middle of the night, only to wake up the next morning with a massive asthma attack. "I fell against my roommate's door," he recounts. "Luckily, he wasn't asleep yet... I was basically dying."
Despite multiple close calls, including a comatose state with his eyelids taped shut, Buschel just couldn't seem to kick the habit. That is, until he hit rock bottom – quite literally – after a night of vodka shots, ecstasy, and unsafe sex with a prostitute. "I was paranoid I was about to be arrested by the DEA," he laughs.
It wasn't until he checked into rehab that Buschel finally got clean. And when he emerged 30 days later, he was a changed man. "I had been using pot every single day for 26 years and snorting coke for 13... I was so high all the time, I didn't even realize how sick I was."
Today, Buschel is a proud advocate for sobriety and regrets his inability to help his troubled son Joshua, who struggled with addiction just like his father. "I never really knew Josh growing up," he laments. "He lived in LA with his mom... it's the dark cloud over my life, all the time."
In an effort to reach out to fellow marijuana enthusiasts still stuck in their ways, Buschel has a message: "Grow up." "People in middle age who've been smoking weed for 20 years – they're not really smoking to get high anymore. They're just smoking because it's a habit... my message is: it's time to grow up."
For those seeking help with substance abuse, Buschel recommends the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
Sources:
- High: From Cannabis to Clarity by Leonard Lee Buschel
- The Scholarly Note
