“A fuckin’ waste of good smack”

Guns N’ Roses‘ manager Alan Niven has claimed Slash and Izzy Stradlin once consumed an entire drug stash to avoid an airport bust.

In an interview in Classic Rock, Niven recalled the incident taking place at Los Angeles International airport as the group were preparing to depart on their first Guns N’ Roses tour of Japan.

According to Niven, they were waiting for frontman Axl Rose, when Guns N’ Roses co-founder Izzy Stradlin asked Niven where Rose was.

Upon hearing Niven’s response, Stradlin reportedly held up a small boom box and said: “I don’t care. I’m set. I’ve got my stash”. Though Niven was hoping Stradlin was referring to a stash of “preferred tunes”, Stradlin instead confirmed it was his “gear”, explaining that he thought wrapping the drugs in foil and hiding them in the boom box would allow him to smuggle them onto the plane.

However, Niven begged to differ, and apparently told Stradlin: “They’ve got dogs and all kinds of electronic sniffing devices. You can’t take that with you. You’ll get nailed for sure. Go flush it now. You’ll be able to score there.” Stradlin’s response? “That’s a fuckin’ waste of good smack”.

According to Niven, Slash also appeared and was asked whether he was carrying drugs. Upon being told Niven’s advice to Stradlin, Slash also went to the bathroom.

However, when Stradlin finally came back, Niven recalled that he “stood for a moment, wavering slightly, and then his knees buckled” – it appeared Stradlin had, in fact, swallowed his stash.

“Slash managed to make it to his seat on the 747 on his own feet, but only just. He too employed the ethic of waste not, want not,” Niven added.

Though Slash and Stradlin miraculously landed in Japan, Niven “had to reschedule for a flight alone with Axl the next day. On a different airline.”

Slash has since become sober from 2006.

We last spoke to Slash in 2023, where he opened up about inviting Dave Grohl to perform with them at Glastonbury that year. “We’ve actually jammed with Dave a couple of times. He’s just one of my all-time favourite musicians. I knew he was gonna be around, and I think it was [Guns N’ Roses bassist] Duff [McKagan] who said to him, ‘Hey, you wanna come jam?’ So yeah, it eventually came together and it was fun.”

In other news, Guns N’ Roses, Metallica, Slayer, Pantera, Lamb Of God and more will play Black Sabbath’s final gig.