HYPOCRITICAL HABIT

Recently, at a media screening, I had the good fortune to sit next to an
icon of the Australian music industry. This high-profile individual is often
in the media; he is the subject of newspaper profiles and an outspoken
source of quotes; a veritable promotional machine. He also can't breathe
through his nose or sit -still for five minutes - because of his enormous
cocaine habit.

F is a musician, His name isn't really F, of course; that's just an initial,
chosen at random to protect his identity. He's just come out of contract to
a multinational record company. He says being on a major label was an
eye-opener - a glimpse of the way the Australian music industry used to
operate in its so-called glory days of the mid to late '80s. He says there
are bars in Sydney where you can - if you're with the "right" people - buy
hard drugs right over the bar.

Make no mistake - drug use is entrenched in the music industry. Hardly news.
But what rankles is not the drug use itself. Quite frankly who cares? As
long as it's not hurting anyone else. Yes "hard" drugs are illegal, but so
what? Who decided that amphetamines, say, are more harmful than alcohol
(which kills a hell of a lot more people every year)? Nobody, really; drug
law is a shoddy, inconsistent patchwork of cultural prejudices and ad hoc
measures. And today's panacea is tomorrow's source of all evil:
over-the-counter cough mixtures contained opiates until after World War II,
No. What really rankles is the accompanying drug hypocrisy.

Like when pop stars known for their drug consumption appear on rock
eisteddfod telecasts telling kids they don't need drugs to have a good time.
Or when someone who has expounded the benefits of ecstasy to anyone who'll
listen suddenly says, "Oh, no - I'm anti-drugs now!" Why? Their band signed
a record deal mid-week.

There's a culture here so entrenched that no one even notices its existence.
It's the culture of hypocrisy; of private acceptance and public
condemnation. This culture exists not just in the music biz but across the
whole range of-for want of a better word - "creative" industries.
Advertising (notoriously), public relations, publishing, media - all show
one face to the public but wear another in private. Everyone toes the line.
Journalists write pieces deploring drug addicts on Smith Street but smoke
dope to relax at home.

It happens all the time. And no one seems to worry. The culture of hypocrisy
is too powerful. For instance, the Australian Drug Foundation is a great
source of sponsorship for youth events. If you're a promoter, it's worth
your while to toe the "Be Your Best" drug-free line. Even if you are
snorting lines of coke and smoking giant spliffs in the back room. Why rock
the boat?

The saddest example of all is the ageing rocker who says: "I did it when I
was young. I took lots of drugs and partied on. But it was wrong. I regret
it, and I'd advise all the young people out there to steer clear of drug
(like I didn't)".

What are they really saying? - That when they were young and their music was
exciting, vibrant and popular, they were on drugs. But now that they're
reduced to playing sloppy ballads in RSL piano bars and on The Midday Show
to an audience of blue-rinsed matrons, they don't use drugs any more.

Now that's a potent anti-drugs message.

Ben Butler is a Melbourne writer

Checked-by: Rolf Ernst