S.F. Drug Treatment Pioneer Dies

Dr. George "Skip" Gay, 77, a drug treatment pioneer at San Francisco’s Haight Ashbury Free Clinic, died of a heart attack February 13th in Anchorage.

As chronicled by the Los Angeles Times, Gay worked with Bill Graham and in 1973 launched Rock Medicine, an aid organization to care for drug- and alcohol-impaired fans at Grateful Dead concerts in Golden Gate Park.

Gay developed techniques for treating heroin addiction at the Haight Ashbury Free Clinic, where he went after giving up his own private practice.

He eventually worked as a physician for the California Department of Corrections before moving to Alaska to provide services in rural medicine.