TIL: Jackson Pollock died when he was 44

[timelets]

On August 11, 1956, at 10:15 pm, Pollock died in a single-car crash in his Oldsmobile convertible while driving under the influence of alcohol.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackson_Pollock#Later_years_and_death_(1955%E2%80%931956)

They didn't do drugs back then. Pollock was an alcoholic, just like many other people before him for thousands of years. Compared to alcohol, we are now (since the 1960s) in early stages of a large-scale drug consumption experiment in the West. In the East, they had it in the 19th century and it didn't end well. The social memory there is so strong that they still have death penalty for drug trafficking.