Phillip K. Dick also had some bad drug trips and they led to a very long, successful, and prolific career as an author of somewhat psychologically disturbed sci-fi. I love watching the movie version of his book "A Scanner Darkly" because it does a good job of describing the way in which people suffering from the early stages of amphetamine psychosis act and think. The book is even more vivid.
He also suffered from mental issues and delusions. He experienced visions that weren't drug-induced.
I wouldn't also describe his career as "very long and successful". I think that's quite an oversimplification, as it was far from idyllic. It included a few years without publishing a thing, and a suicide attempt. Plus he struggled with financial troubles pretty much all the way through.
It is plausible. Dick was known to consume large amounts of amphetamines, and amphetamine use significantly increases the risk of stroke.
"He clearly descended into abuse after his fourth wife left him in the early 1970s. Afterward, according to Kyle Arnold’s biography, he was taking speed by the handful. “He stuffed his refrigerator with thousand-pill jars of amphetamines” and “told his mother he consumed a thousand-pill jar per week.”"
https://www.thefix.com/philip-k-dick-s-high-life
Plenty of people die of strokes in their 50s without involving drug use. It's not like he was a model of good health in general.
Judging from his complaint of failing eyesight the day prior to his death [1], it sounds like a common embolism. Considering Atherosclerosis is the number one cause of death in the developed world [2], it's not like we need to search for a likely cause.
I'd argue that it's likely he was going to die around this age wether he used drugs or not, but the drug use gave him a more pleasurable experience throughout his years.
It reminds me of how the cause of death for Adrian Lamo is officially "undetermined", but the medical examiner notes serum potassium and creatinine levels that are so high (in my informed opinion) that they probably can only be described as "kidney failure" or "lethal injection".
I have it from a very well regarded French philosopher who knew Sartre personally that he took mescaline a lot, hence his prolific productivity, and that he would specifically inject into the thigh. There's some philosophy gossip for ya hn :)
This famous writer may have been negatively affected by drugs, but then they show the cover of his book with crabs. Maybe not the best message to sent around.
It was creatively translated as "Kac Vegas" by the Polish distributor.
("Kac", originating from German "Katzenjammer" and pronounced roughly like "cuts", therefore kind of rhyming with "las" in "Las Vegas", stands for "hangover" in Polish).
