DRUGS TSAR ACCUSES STARS OF ARROGANCE

SHOWBUSINESS and professional figures were criticised yesterday for
talking about using drugs such as cocaine and accused of being guilty
of "intellectual arrogance".

Keith Hellawell, the UK Drugs Co-ordinator, said they were wrong to
think they were not damaging society because they did not have to
resort to theft in order to finance their use. He told the Today
programme on Radio 4: "I wish they'd stop it, there is this arrogance
- - I call it an intellectual arrogance. If they are dealing with my
pension fund on the dealing floors they could be causing me damage. It
isn't a joke, it's deadly serious."

Rock groups such as Oasis, The Verve and Primal Scream have all
alluded to drugs in their music and in their private lives. Noel
Gallagher, of Oasis, was criticised for saying drug taking was so
common it's "like having a cup of tea". In 1997 he told Radio 1 that
if he was made Mayor of London he would legalise drugs.

The pop star Brian Harvey was temporarily dropped from the group East
17 after calling Ecstasy "safe" and condoning the rave drug in a radio
interview. He said: "If it brings out the better in someone and, in
the long run, it's a safe pill and it isn't doing you harm, I don't
see the problem. I've done pills myself, I've done 12 in one night,
loads of them."

Richard Ashcroft, the singer from The Verve, who achieved fame with
the hit song The Drugs Don't Work, said: "They make me worse. But I
still take them. Out of boredom and frustration, you turn to something
else to escape."

Bobby Gillespie, from Primal Scream, described drugs as an alternative
to watching television. He said: "If you're on a council estate what
are you going to do? Watch Emmerdale re-runs or get smashed out of
your brains? We get really excited when the drugs turn up."