Comedian Bill Hicks passed away 24 years ago on Feb. 26, 1994 from pancreatic cancer. He was 32.
Hicks' ascerbic brand of comedy was just catching on. His first album Dangerous in 1990 included a nine-minute bit about "The War on Drugs." He followed up that sentiment with "Great Times on Drugs" > "Drugs Have Done Good Things" > "Rockers Against Drugs Suck" on the live Relentless in 1992.
The above "Marijuana" clip is part of "Great Times on Drugs." It features most of Hicks' quintessential comments about cannabis, such as:
• "Pot is a better drug than alcohol. Fact."
• "I have never seen people on pot get into a fight because it is fucking impossible."
• "Say you're in a car accident and you're smoking pot. You're only going four miles an hour."
• "I have never heard one reason that rang true why marijuana's against the law."
• "Marijuana grows everywhere, serves a thousand different functions, all of them positive. To make marijuana against the law is like saying God made a mistake."
However, one quip not included in "Great Times on Drugs" is his best ever about marijuana:
"Not only do I think marijuana should be legalized, I think it should be mandatory."
The Texas-born comic is the subject of two documentaries: Kevin Booth's Bill Hicks: Sane Man (1989) and Matt Harlock and Paul Thomas' American: The Bill Hicks Story.
