Part I: Chapter 8 Summary

After the violent confrontation with his attorney in the hotel bathroom, Thompson introduces a subject he has, thus far, not mentioned: the effects of long-term drug abuse. He mentions a doctor and former LSD guru who used to live near him. When one day he asked the older man for advice and opinions about the use of LSD—which, at that point in his life, Thompson had never tried—he was disturbed by the sight of the doctor puttering around his garden, humming to himself and unresponsive to Thompson's questions. At that point, Thompson decided to avoid the drug that had caused such damage, but his resolution only lasted six months until he broke it one night at the Fillimore Auditorium in San Francisco. From there, obviously, his use only increased.

This memory leads Thompson into a discussion of...