Enough to give anyone Fear and Loathing: How decadent author Hunter S. Thompson required a shocking quantity of cocaine, Chivas Regal, Dunhill cigarettes and marijuana before starting to write each day

  • Thompson's daily routine consisted of marathon sessions of cigarette smoking, Chivas drinking, cocaine snorting and marijuana smoking
  • The 'outlaw' journalist didn't start writing until midnight and started taking drugs in the mid-afternoon
  • Miraculously, he didn't die until he took his own life at age 68 

By Kiri Blakeley For Dailymail.com

Published: 16:10 EST, 9 January 2016 | Updated: 13:02 EST, 10 January 2016

Hunter S. Thompson was portrayed as a gun-loving, drug-inhaling outlaw journalist by Johnny Depp in 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas' - but nothing compares to the reality of Thompson's daily intake.

Listed in E. Jean Carroll in the first chapter of her 1994 book Hunter: The Strange and Savage Life of Hunter S. Thompson is the to-do list of cigarettes, alcohol, and drugs that Thompson consumed before gearing himself up to write at midnight, reports The Independent.

Hunter, who committed suicide at age 68, wouldn't awaken until 3pm, and then he would start his day Chivas Regal and a Dunhill cigarette. 

From there it would descend into a blur of Chivas, Dunhills, coffee and cocaine.

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Hunter S. Thompson, circa 1976, was a gun fanatic - who ended up taking his life with one of his guns 

Hunter S. Thompson, circa 1976, was a gun fanatic - who ended up taking his life with one of his guns 

Hunter's actual daily routine (above) was published in the 1994 biography Hunter: The Strange and Savage Life of Hunter S. Thompson

Hunter's actual daily routine (above) was published in the 1994 biography Hunter: The Strange and Savage Life of Hunter S. Thompson

Hunter consumed innumerable cigarettes, several glasses of Chivas Regal, beer, Margaritas, marijuana, champagne, and much cocaine over the course of a day
Hunter's actual daily routine (above) was published in the 1994 biography Hunter: The Strange and Savage Life of Hunter S. Thompson

Hunter consumed innumerable cigarettes, several glasses of Chivas Regal, beer, Margaritas, marijuana, champagne, and much cocaine over the course of a day, according to a biographer 

By 6pm, still having not eaten any food, the 'Gonzo' journalist would take the edge off with some marijuana.

At 7pm, he'd have his lunch - hamburgers, fries, tomatoes, taco salad, and coleslaw - but not without two Margaritas and two Heinekens.

Dessert would be a snow cone - over which he would pour three or four jiggers of Chivas.

By the time most of us would be headed to bed - or passed out cold - Thompson was just getting started.

At 10pm, he'd drop some acid. That was followed by a triple whammy of Chartreuse, cocaine, and marijuana.

By 11:30pm, he was ready for some more white powder.

Finally, at midnight, after a cornucopia of substances that would send most of us to the emergency room, if not the funeral home, Thompson would be ready to write.

Johnny Depp (above) played Thompson in 'Fear and Loathing' - and the two became friends in real life

Johnny Depp (above) played Thompson in 'Fear and Loathing' - and the two became friends in real life

Throughout the night, he would write while consuming more cocaine, Chartreuse, pot, Chivas, coffee, cigarettes, and gin. But it wasn't all unhealthy - he'd throw in a glass of orange juice.

By 6am, he was ready for a soak in the hot tub, which he would top off with champagne, Dove Bars, and Fettucine Alfredo.

At 8am, he'd pop some Halcion, a prescription drug for insomia - one that comes with a warning not to consume with alcohol or other drugs.

Amazingly, he would fall asleep within 20 minutes.

Even more amazingly, he would continue to wake up each morning - until February 20, 2005, when he took his own life with a gun.

Depp interviewed Thompson at the Viper Room, which he part owned, in Los Angeles

Depp interviewed Thompson at the Viper Room, which he part owned, in Los Angeles

Thompson reached the peak of his literary career in the mid-Seventies after his books, Hell's Angels and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, were published to great success.

His writing broke from conventional reporting and straddled both fiction and non-fiction, a unique approach dubbed 'Gonzo journalism' which turned him into a counter-culture icon and won him legions of fans.

Fear and Loathing was adapted into a 1998 movie starring Johnny Depp as Hunter's surrogate writer persona, Raoul Duke.

His ashes were shot out of a cannon that Johnny Depp paid for. Friends including then-Senator John Kerry and actor Jack Nicholson attended the bizarre ceremony.

In January, his son Juan published a memoir about his hard-living dad titled Stories I Tell Myself: Growing Up with Hunter S. Thompson. 

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