SPIKED DRINK LEFT FOXX SCARRED FOR LIFE

JAMIE FOXX credits a college pal with saving his life when he was left in a near-comatose state after his drink was spiked with hallucinogenic drug PCP.

The Oscar-winner was studying music at the United States International University as a teenager and was enjoying a dorm room party when he started to feel strange.

He quickly realised his drink had been spiked by an acquaintance, and his senses began to shut down as the drug took hold.

Foxx’s quick-thinking pal soon realised his dilemma and came to his aid – rushing him to a nearby hospital to try and flush the drug out.
But despite making a full recovery, the Ray star suffered severe flashbacks for months, leaving him terrified and paranoid.

He explains, “I was drinking whiskey and it didn’t taste funny, so I had no idea. It took about 15 minutes and I knew something was wrong. I said to my roommate, ‘Something is going on, and I don’t know what it is, but I’m going to ride it out.

“That was the last thing I said, and then I was almost in a coma and I couldn’t move, couldn’t talk, couldn’t even say, ‘Take me to a hospital.’ My friend could see something was badly wrong and he took me to the emergency room.

“(He) stayed with me. Then he took me back to the dorm and I was afraid of the dark and he would talk to me every night and calm me down and say stuff like, ‘You’re OK, the demons aren’t real.’ He saved my life.”

It was only after the event that Foxx found out PCP – a hallucinogenic which prevents the body and brain working in sync – stays in the body forever, and he still fears haunting flashbacks more than 20 years later.

He adds, “I read up on PCP after it happened. It leaves a fingerprint and you can’t get it out of your system. It happened to me when I was 18 and I had 11-months of harsh flashbacks, and then when I was 26, and another when I was 32, and that was the last one. But I always worry about it coming back. You’re afraid of the dark, afraid of things you see on television, you feel that things are coming at you. I felt paranoid, and paranoia is craziness. It’s not good.”