Up in Smoke: Celebrity Drug Use

What's up with celebrities bragging about being drug users? I was listening to Terry Gross' interview with Bill Maher, and she pointed out that Maher talks about smoking marijuana in his show, so doesn't he worry about the cops coming to his house? Good question. He laughed and went into a bit about how the "character" of Bill Maher smokes pot, but the real Bill Maher doesn't in a "wink-wink" kind of tone. This made me question the whole issue. But this question first came to me when I saw that Snoop Dogg, Dr Dre, and Eminem did a tour called the Up in Smoke tour with a marijuana leaf as their symbol.

The question is, why do celebrities feel so free to talk about their drug use, considering they are way more visible and easier to find than the average citizen? Then there's the inevitable phenomenon of a celebrity drug user getting arrested for drug use, and complaining about it. Tommy Chong was arrested for selling drug paraphenalia and went whining to everybody who would listen. Why are the most watched drug users the ones who talk the most about it?

Here's a tip. If you're gonna take drugs and you don't want to get arrested for it, shut up about it. If I walked down the street wearing a T-shirt that says "I smoke marijuana and I have marijuana in my pocket right now," I don't think I'd be surprised if a passing cop pulled me over for a search. Yet Eminem stands on stage rapping about how he's going to smoke marijuana that night, then gets angry when the cops knock on his door. If I wrote a song about cheating on my wife, I don't think I'd be too shocked if she started checking up on me at work.

Here's the truth. Celebrities think they are untouchable because they're famous. They think they're surrounded by a wall of press agents, bodyguards, media attention, and loyal fans. And they think that cops are too stupid or lame to listen to their music or watch their movies.

Then again, the simplest explanation for all this is that marijuana decreases mental functions, so the fact that dope-smokers are too stupid to shut up about their drug use probably proves the point. But at least I haven't heard too many songs about using crystal meth or crack lately.
Categories: opinion