• U.S.
  • cities

Former DC Mayor: Snorting Coke Was Like Having Sex

1 minute read

Former Washington, D.C. Mayor Marion Barry’s autobiography Mayor for Life includes a colorful (and enthusiastic) description of the first time he snorted cocaine.

“I exhaled instead of inhaled and blew all of the powder off the card,” Barry writes about when an unidentified woman offered him his first hit in the 1980s. After he managed to get the correct technique, says Barry, it “felt like I had ejaculated.”

“The cocaine was a powerful stimulant that went straight to my penis,” he says.

The infamous mayor managed to secure reelection in 1994 despite a 1990 arrest on drug charges. He now serves on D.C.’s city council.

More Must-Reads From TIME

Contact us at letters@time.com