"During the 60's, drug use was in fashion in the U.S"
About this Quote
It lands like a shrug, and that is exactly the point. Coming from an athlete, Bill Toomey’s line isn’t trying to mythologize the 1960s; it’s puncturing the nostalgia with a blunt consumer metaphor: drug use wasn’t just happening, it was “in fashion.” That phrasing yanks the era out of moral melodrama and drops it into the marketplace of trends, where identity is assembled through signals, scenes, and substances.
The intent feels less confessional than observational, a way of naming how quickly a taboo can become a style marker once it’s attached to youth culture, celebrity, and a sense of rebellion you can wear. “In fashion” implies social pressure as much as freedom: participation becomes a kind of membership card. It also subtly shifts responsibility from individual pathology to group dynamics. If it’s fashion, it spreads by imitation, not just by need.
Context matters: the 60s U.S. saw psychedelics move from the fringes into campuses, music, and countercultural politics, then into a tightening backlash that would harden into the War on Drugs. Toomey, positioned in the disciplined world of elite sport, is implicitly contrasting two regimes of the body: one built on control, training, and measurable performance; the other romanticized as liberation, experimentation, and anti-establishment cool.
The subtext is a quiet warning about how a culture can aestheticize risk. Fashion doesn’t ask whether something is good for you; it asks whether it reads as now.
The intent feels less confessional than observational, a way of naming how quickly a taboo can become a style marker once it’s attached to youth culture, celebrity, and a sense of rebellion you can wear. “In fashion” implies social pressure as much as freedom: participation becomes a kind of membership card. It also subtly shifts responsibility from individual pathology to group dynamics. If it’s fashion, it spreads by imitation, not just by need.
Context matters: the 60s U.S. saw psychedelics move from the fringes into campuses, music, and countercultural politics, then into a tightening backlash that would harden into the War on Drugs. Toomey, positioned in the disciplined world of elite sport, is implicitly contrasting two regimes of the body: one built on control, training, and measurable performance; the other romanticized as liberation, experimentation, and anti-establishment cool.
The subtext is a quiet warning about how a culture can aestheticize risk. Fashion doesn’t ask whether something is good for you; it asks whether it reads as now.
Quote Details
| Topic | Nostalgia |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Toomey, Bill. (2026, January 17). During the 60's, drug use was in fashion in the U.S. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/during-the-60s-drug-use-was-in-fashion-in-the-us-38452/
Chicago Style
Toomey, Bill. "During the 60's, drug use was in fashion in the U.S." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/during-the-60s-drug-use-was-in-fashion-in-the-us-38452/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"During the 60's, drug use was in fashion in the U.S." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/during-the-60s-drug-use-was-in-fashion-in-the-us-38452/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.
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