One of the most effective urban legends of the 1980s, the "Blue Star Tattoo Legend," led to millions of school children across the world on the look-out for strangers handing out lick-and-stick fake tattoos of Mickey Mouse. The stickers were said to be laced with LSD. As a child, growing up in a suburb of Denver, this was my first introduction to acid. It was also a mesmerizing anti-drug campaign. It captivated me and I spent weeks looking for this unknown person to give me a few doses of acid. I never found the person — but it sparked a lifelong interest in the subject!
A memory of the impact of LSD stickers on young minds can be found in the following video. SWWE #90: Mickey Mouse Acid:
(Advisory: Strobing lights, Acid visuals, Fun flashing colors. Noises.) — So where did this urban myth come from? The best origins of the Mickey Mouse acid stickers can be traced back to Orange County, California, whose sheriff Brad Gates (RIP, 2024) first discussed Mickey Mouse LSD stickers in 1981. Gates coined a few anti-drug slogans: Drug Use is Life Abuse and the equally catchy: Do Drugs, Do Time! — Could all of this have been make-believe on the part of law enforcement? Or an even more exciting enhancement of Operation Midnight Climax? Mickey Mouse LSD stickers pre-date D.A.R.E., and all of these campaigns received a lot of funding from the government. I suppose one could follow the money to find out if any of these anti-drug campaign were without any basis in fact and just a cash grab. Ill-gotten money is its own drug, of course. Just say no!
