Before the age of thirty, Turner did not use drugs or drink alcohol. He would fire anyone in his band who used any substances. Turner was first introduced to cocaine by "two very famous people" he had been working with at the International Hotel in Las Vegas. Producer D'Angela Proctor alleged in Turner's Unsung documentary that the two famous people were Elvis Presley and Redd Foxx. He took the cocaine home and tried it one night while writing songs at the piano. Turner said he liked the reduced need for sleep the drug gave him, which allowed him to write more music. By the early 1970s, he was heavily addicted to the drug, buying it in large quantities and sharing it with friends. Turner later estimated that he had spent $11 million on cocaine. His addiction caused a hole through his nasal septum, the pain of which he relieved by using more cocaine. He eventually began freebasing crack cocaine.
