"I Don't Do Drugs, I am Drugs" - Salvador Dali

The Reagan administration launched an all-out attack on the American drug culture in the 1980s, and hundreds of politically charged anti-substance songs were produced as a result. Artists continued a trend started in the 1960s in using their music as a vehicle for socio-political commentary…only this time, instead of protesting a war in Vietnam and promoting the use of mind-altering substances, they were promoting the War on Drugs and protesting the use of substances. Artists in every known genre felt the need to publicly express the evils of drug use: Martika’s “Toy Soldiers”, Stevie Wonder’s “Don’t Drive Drunk”, Grandmaster Flash’s “White Lines (Don’t Do It)”, etc.


One of the most notable releases was a music video called “Stop the Madness” sponsored by Nancy Reagan in support of her “Just Say No” campaign. The video features dozens of celebrities appearing/singing in support of the D.A.R.E. program and the War on Drugs.





The biggest problem with these artists’ endorsements was that 1) most of them, like everyone else in mainstream music culture at the time, started doing drugs in the 60’s and 2) now felt no urgent need to stop using, regardless of whatever the current president was doing. “Stop the Madness” boasts appearances from Whitney “Crack is Whack” Houston, who was periodically arrested throughout the 1990s and early 2000s on drug-related suspicions, and who went through rehab twice in 2004 and 2005; Arnold Schwarzenegger, who publicly admits to heavy use of steroids and marijuana throughout the 80s and in 2007 stated in an interview that cannabis is not a drug; David Hasselhoff, who is now a publicly-recognized raging alcoholic; and Casey Kasem, the voice of the ever-high-and-hallucinating Scooby Doo character Shaggy. Grandmaster Flash, who released the song “White Lines (Don’t Do It)” was addicted to - and still using - freebase cocaine when the song was released in 1983.



So now that we’ve established that half the “Just Say No” supporters have either been arrested for drug-related charges or gone to rehab, what do their anti-substance endorsements mean now? Why do celebrities feel the hypocritical need to publicly derogate habits that they themselves practice? Case in point: ultra-conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh, formerly an outspoken advocate of drug abstinence, admitted in 2003 that he had been addicted to prescription painkillers (including Oxycontin) for at least 5 years. What happened to “drug users should be jailed or deported”, Rush? Do public figures feel that in a position of power it’s one’s responsibility to set a good example, even when they’re susceptible to the same temptations and rationalizations as the rest of us?

Is it better for celebrities to lie and cover up their addictions in order to set a commendable public example, or to flaunt their drug use (a.k.a. Lindsey Lohan, Kate Moss, Nicole Richie) but at least be honest?


I have a lot of opinions about the Drug War and its influence on young Americans. It was racist: the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 established a vast disparity in criminal sentencing for powder cocaine (an affluent white person’s drug) vs. crack cocaine (drug of choice for poor black kids). “Just Say No” misinterpreted the reasons for why kids use drugs and diminished drug avoidance strategies down to a mindless catch phrase. The campaign had a strictly black-and-white view of a very gray situation, leading to only one ‘logical’ solution: NO drug use whatsoever. The Reagan administration wrongly characterized all drug use as drug abuse, and disregarded the idea that drugs can be creatively/recreationally useful in moderation. For example: the music industry. Some of the most influential artists of all time have admitted to using drugs in order to enhance their creative potential and break down conventional-thinking mental barriers- Bob Marley, the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, the Grateful Dead, the Rolling Stones, Marilyn Manson, Bob Dylan.



I think the late comedian Bill Hicks had a great point when he said, “See, I think drugs have some done good things for us. I really do. And if you don't believe drugs have done good things for us, do me a favor. Go home tonight, take all your albums, all your tapes, and all your CDs, and burn them. 'Cause you know what? The musicians who made all that great music that's enhanced your lives throughout the years - reeeeeeeal fucking high on drugs. It's not a war on drugs, it's a war on personal freedom is what it is, okay?. Keep that in mind at all times, thank you”.



In summary: I am not pro-drugs, certainly not pro-drug abuse, and definitely not pro-drug to the point where the user's life is suffering. Some drugs, used safely and in moderation, have intense creativity-enhancing potential, which I feel has vastly enriched the music industry. Having said that...the Just Say No campaign, and all the hypocritical anti-drug music that was produced at the time, can suck my big toe.