Manager Claims Guns N’ Roses Guitarists Once Swallowed an Entire Stash To Avoid Airport Security

Guns N’ Roses didn’t name their first album Appetite for Destruction for nothing. The Los Angeles-based hard rock outfit gained a well-earned reputation for working hard and partying harder. Fortunately, lead guitarist Slash managed to put those days behind him, reportedly getting sober in 2006. However, the band’s ex-manager, Alan Niven, recently recalled a time when Slash and rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin went to extreme lengths to avoid potential drug charges.

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“That’s a F—in’ Waste of Good Smack”

Managing Guns N’ Roses from 1986 to 1991, Alan Niven bore witness to the band’s most outlandish moments. Now, he’s dishing on those moments in a new book, Sound and Fury: Rock N’ Roll Stories. Out June 25, the book sees Niven recounting one especially wild moment as the “Welcome to the Jungle” rockers set out for their first tour of Japan in the late ’80s.

500th Episode. 2-hours of Alan Niven, Guns N' Roses' manager during the Appetite era. They don't make 'em like Alan anymore.https://t.co/ud3AnQLumf pic.twitter.com/1rFsKoXqr5

— Appetite For Distortion🎙️ (@TheAFDPodcast) April 2, 2025

As the band waited on frontman Axl Rose at the Los Angeles International Airport, Niven says Izzy Stradlin announced that he had his “stash,” holding up a boom box.

Perhaps naively, Niven hoped Stradlin was referring to a stash of “preferred tunes.” That hope was short-lived, as the rhythm guitarist soon confirmed he intended to smuggle drugs on the plane.

“You can’t take that with you,” Niven says he told Stradlin. “Go flush it now.”

Reportedly, Stradlin replied, “That’s a f—in’ waste of good smack.”

[RELATED: Ex Guns N’ Roses Drummer Frank Ferrer Breaks Silence on Split From Band]

How Ex-Guns N’ Roses Manager Realized They Had Not Flushed Their Stash After All

That’s when Slash appeared. After Niven repeated his advice to Stadlin, the two members of Guns N’ Roses went to the bathroom, ostensibly to flush their respective stashes.

However, when Stradlin re-emerged, it became clear to Niven that he had not, in fact, flushed the drugs down the toilet as instructed. The Lafayette, Indiana-born guitarist “stood for a moment, wavering slightly, and then his knees buckled.”

Meanwhile, Slash found his way to his seat on the plane, albeit barely. “He too employed the ethic of waste not, want not,” Niven said.

Featured image by Marc S Canter/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)