Decades ago, musicians typically found their answers in a bottle; bourbon, scotch, vodka, gin, take your pick. Alcohol has always been an easily accessible means to artificially lessen the rate of vital physiological activities.
But the pitfalls associated with that choice of action are obvious. Alcohol not only deadens a musician's synaptic responses (which are at the heart of performance anxiety) but they also slow down cognitive and physical ability. Then there's that pesky addictive side effect to deal with.
Better living through pharmaceuticals
In 1965 Wyeth Laboratories developed Inderal, the brand name for propranolol, which is an antianginal, antiarrhythmic, antihypersensative, antimigraine drug, and beta blocker.
In English, that means it helps treat the effects of anxiety or nervous tension, aggressive behavior, angina, high blood pressure, migraine, headaches, panic attack, phobias, schizophrenia, tremors, and to help prevent second heart attacks.
Inderal is not habit forming, may be taken for months or even years, and proper dosage must be determined and prescribed by a physician.
It's obvious to see why many musicians have found this drug to be extraordinarily useful if fighting the symptoms of performance anxiety.
Some musicians who use this drug have experienced significant reductions in their level of performance anxiety which, in turn, allows them to reach much high levels of consistency in their performing. Best of all, it isn't habit forming and side effects are rare and usually minor in character.
Personally? I'd go for the half bottle of Jack D. and a spliff.