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Taylor plunged headfirst into both of them, forming a band called vThe Flying Machine and falling in with heroin addicts.
Taylor stated in an interview with Billboard that he was first exposed to heroin by a bandmate, which led to years of addiction to not only it but also codeine, cocaine, alcohol, and experimentation with other substances such as acid (via Rolling Stone).
While James Taylor successfully kicked his heroin addiction in the early 1970s, he soon became reliant on methadone, a sometimes addictive opiate that's used to help heroin users wean themselves off that harder drug.
Over the years James Taylor has been candid about his personal struggles, from opening up about spending time as a teen in a psychiatric hospital to descending into heroin addiction during the early stages of his career.
Drinking several bottles himself "to take the edge off," Taylor told the Guardian, he also believes he introduced John Lennon to opium use, possibly leading to heroin addiction in the rest of the band that some say played a part in its dissolution in 1970, per Salon.
February 19, 2020. An uncle warned James Taylor at a young age that opiate addiction ran in his family, that if he ever touched the powerful sedative drugs "you can just kiss your entire life goodbye." Taylor has told his heroin story many times.
People know about his marriage to Carly Simon, the Laurel Canyon scene, the songs he inspired Joni Mitchell to write on Blue, the heroin addiction – and Taylor has always considered himself “available” – but family, grief, trauma, makes you even more vulnerable.
