Death on Drugs

Published March 11, 2023 • Updated March 14, 2023

Death on Drugs playing cards, United States, 1985.

Produced by Weedon Enterprises, San Luis Obispo, California, this pack lists 52 reasons to not abuse drugs. The same black-and-white cartoons are repeated in each suit, but the hearts and diamonds suits have had splashes of red added to them. Beneath each cartoon there is the name or type of drug (e.g., alcohol, cocaine, inhalants, downers, etc.) and these drugs /types are used for the same values in all four suits (e.g., 4 Kings display heroin, 4 Queens cocaine, etc.), which makes a total of 13 drug or drug types. After each drug name/type the spade suit indicates what to look for; hearts show what effect each drug has; clubs show the dangers and diamonds the physical symptoms. So for example the king of spades shows heroin – what to look for; the king of hearts what effect heroin has; the king of clubs indicates the dangers of heroin, and the king of diamonds the physical symptoms of heroin. In addition there are 2 jokers and an information card listing drug telephone help lines. See the box►

Death on Drugs playing cards produced by Weedon Enterprises, United States, 1985

Above: Death on Drugs playing cards produced by Weedon Enterprises, United States, 1985.

• See also: Death Cigarettes►

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By Peter Burnett

United Kingdom • Member since July 27, 2022

I graduated in Russian and East European Studies from Birmingham University in 1969. It was as an undergraduate in Moscow in 1968 that I stumbled upon my first 3 packs of “unusual” playing cards which fired my curiosity and thence my life-long interest. I began researching and collecting cards in the early 1970s, since when I’ve acquired over 3,330 packs of non-standard cards, mainly from North America, UK and Western Europe, and of course from Russia and the former communist countries.

• Russian Playing Cards

Following my retirement from the Bodleian Library in Dec. 2007 I took up a new role as Head of Library Development at the International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP) to support library development in low-income countries. This work necessitated regular training visits to many sub-Saharan African countries and also further afield, to Vietnam, Nepal and Bangladesh – all of which provided rich opportunities to further expand my playing card collection.

Since 2019 I’ve been working part-time in the Bodleian Library where I’ve been cataloguing the bequest of the late Donald Welsh, founder of the English Playing Card Society.