Travis Barker has revealed the health scare that made him give up weed after years of heavy smoking. The drummer also shared how he deals with the cravings today.
Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker has opened up about the frightening diagnosis that made him quit smoking weed after years of heavy use. The 50-year-old spoke about it on Wednesday, November 11, as a guest on the Big Bro with Kid Cudi podcast.
He revealed that doctors had found precancerous changes in his esophagus. “I only quit because I got diagnosed with precancer of the esophagus,” Barker said.
The musician also admitted he had a hard time controlling how much he smoked. “I loved blunts and I would smoke too much,” he said.
According to Barker, he was smoking between 10 and 15 blunts a day. He had never seriously considered quitting. In fact, he had pictured himself still smoking well into old age, just like country music legend Willie Nelson.
That changed when he received the news. Barker said he asked his doctor if the diagnosis was serious. The answer was clear.
“He’s like, ‘This is your warning shot. Don’t f**k around. You’ve got to stop smoking,'” Barker recalled.
He took the warning seriously and quit, but also admitted he misses it.
Barker replaced smoking with running
Barker replaced getting hig from weed with the runner’s high.
“I’ve found even however many years later now, 20 years later, couple miles a day keeps the demons away,” he said, adding: “My running started getting bigger and more important to me than smoking.”
Barker also credits exercise with helping him overcome an earlier addiction to prescription painkillers and opioids.
Barker’s journey to sobriety did however begin before the diagnosis.
In 2008, he survived a plane crash in South Carolina that killed four people. Barker himself suffered life-threatening injuries. He has previously described that crash as his rehab. Speaking to Men’s Health, he said people often ask him whether he ever went to a treatment center.
“And I [say], ‘No, I was in a plane crash.’ That was my rehab,” he said. “Lose three of your friends and almost die? That was my wake-up call.”
“If I wasn’t in a crash, I would have probably never quit.”
