Anthony inadvertently discovered heroin at age 13 when he confused a line of China White heroin with a line of cocaine. He loved it, but didn’t try heroin again for many years. At the time, cocaine was his drug of choice. While going to Fairfax High School, he met Michael Balzary, now known as Flea, and Hillel Slovak. They became what they called “Los Faces”- Anthony was Fuerte (Strong), Flea was Poco (Small), and Hillel was Flaco (Slender).
When Anthony was 15, his father was busted for possession of drugs and tried to get Anthony to help pay for his defense, increasing an ever growing rift between them. Eventually, Anthony became fed up and moved in with his friend Donde Bastone when he was 16 years old. After he started going to UCLA, Anthony got to the point where he could no longer pay rent. He found an ad offering a male student room and board for helping care for a woman's 9 year old son. The boy had been diagnosed with ADD and took Ritalin. Anthony stole some of the Ritalin and the mother never found out, but he did end up getting fired soon after for other reasons.
Eventually he ended up on the streets, going on heroin binges and staying at his friends houses until he was no longer welcome. After a while he moved in with his friend Bill Stobaugh, but moved out when Bill accused him of stealing his guitars.
Anthony, Flea, Hillel, and friend Jack Irons formed a band they called Tony Flow and the Miraculously Majestic Masters of Mayhem. After a show or two, they became more serious about the band and renamed themselves The Red Hot Chili Peppers. But soon, Anthony became extremely dependant on heroin and was kicked out of the band. He went back to Grand Rapids, Michigan to go to the Salvation Army to get clean when he was 24 years old. After he cleaned himself up he rejoined The Red Hot Chili Peppers. 2 months after returning to LA, he started using again.
Hillel Slovak died at age 25 from a heroin overdose, and Jack Irons left the band. Anthony entered a rehab program in Van Nuys called ASAP. After searching for replacements for Hillel and Jack, they found John Frusciante and Chad Smith. Anthony wrote “Knock Me Down” about Drug Addiction and as a tribute to Hillel. Knock Me Down ended up escalating their fame. He later wrote “Under the Bridge”, also about his addiction, which became one of their most famous songs. John started using heroin and his addiction gradually got worse. He absolutely hated fame and quit part way through the tour for BloodSugarSexMagik.
After 5 years of sobriety, Anthony didn’t make it to six before he had a relapse. He entered the Exodus rehab program. After he left he quickly started using heroin again. He even traded a very valuable guitar signed by the Rolling Stones, which could have sold for at least $200 if not more, for a very small amount of heroin barely worth a dollar. He reentered Exodus and tried to escape when they tried to put him in a 72 hour lockdown. He found his way out into a smoking area, climbed a basketball pole, and jumped over an 18 foot high brick wall. When he landed on the other side he entered the neighboring bank where he was caught and taken back to Exodus.
In 1997 he visited the Dalai Lama in India. Everyone thought that he would clean himself up after meeting him but by age 34 he continued using and ended up at Impact, an end-of-the-line rehab in Pasadena. While there he realized that most of he relapses occurred after breakups. After leaving Impact he was on the way to a meeting when he was in a motorcycle accident that severely injured his right hand. He had to have reconstructive surgery, and regained the use of his hand in 9 months.
Meanwhile, John Frusciante kept doing drugs and his arms were abscessed from never learning how to properly administer an injection. During his time away from the band he released 2 or 3 solo albums, which were made for the sole purpose of drug money. When asked to rejoin The Red Hot Chili Peppers he agreed.
Anthony still has cravings, but has learned to ignore them. Sometime in the late 80’s, early 90’s, he was diagnosed with Hepatitis C. He began taking Ozone, and herbal regimen, that would eradicate the virus. He continues to take it intravenously to keep it from coming back.
References-
Scar Tissue by Anthony Kiedis