Does celebrity drug use really encourage other people to drink or use drugs? I’ve often wondered that. It seems like this question is similar to the one that asks if media violence prompts real-life violence.
In other blogs, we’ve discussed how celebrities, especially musical performers, seem to glorify the use of marijuana, from Willie Nelson to Snoop Dogg to Cypress Hill. (Is that group even still around? Am I just really old? If you don’t know who Cypress Hill is, you might know the group’s big hit single, “Insane in the Brain,” which is about marijuana use, among other things.)
Of course, celebrities seem to endorse more than marijuana. Miley Cyrus sang about the club drug Molly (a drug similar to ecstasy), while Eric Clapton and others sang about cocaine. You could probably name several other artists who have created songs, movies, books, and other works of art about drugs. Even more artists have produced works about alcohol.
I’m not saying these works actively cause someone to use drugs or alcohol. It’s not like most people will listen to Eric Clapton’s “Cocaine” and rush out to score some drugs. I just wonder if people presented with opportunities to abuse drugs will do so because their favorite singer/actor/athlete has prompted the use of such drugs.
These people might figure that the celebrities haven’t seemed to suffer any ill effects from their drug use. They reason that they would be able to use same types of substances and experience (or not experience) the same results.
But as we know, celebrity culture is not real life. We might see a version of a celebrity’s life, but not the big picture. Maybe the celebrity takes different types of substances, or different qualities of the substances. Maybe the celebrity has suffered ill effects from his or her substance use disorder, but has not revealed such problems.
It can be hard enough to live our real, actual lives. Trying to emulate a celebrity complicates things even more, because we might be seeing a version of their lives, but not the entire truth.
