Chief justice was addicted and delusional

Former chief justice William Rehnquist was addicted to what the Associated Press described as a "powerful prescription pain-relief medication" for at least ten years and suffered from paranoid delusions, FBI files released today under a Freedom of Information Act request show.

Rehnquist was on a prescription for Placidyl from 1970 to 1981, the files show. Placidyl (ethchlorvynol), known on the street as "jelly bellies," was an addictive drug having slurred speech (a Rehnquist trademark on the bench) among its side effects. Withdrawal from Placidyl can bring psychotic episodes. It was yanked from the U.S. market in 1999.

The FBI file, citing one of his physicians, said Rehnquist experienced withdrawal symptoms that included going to the hospital lobby in his pajamas in a bid to escape. He imagined that there was a Central Intelligence Agency plot against him, and he also seemed to discern changes in the patterns on the hospital curtains. Rehnquist thought he heard voices outside his room discussing various plots against him. Source.

P.S. As pointed out in comment No. 1, below, Placidyl was in fact not prescribed for pain but for insomnia. It is a sedative and a hypnotic. Source.