Adebayor's started so well for Man City
Have celebrities made it okay to take cocaine?
Kate Moss, Pete Doherty, and Amy Winehouse have all hit the headlines for their alleged drug use - and also for the perceived lack of action taken by the police and courts towards them.
says this in its annual drugs report published today: "celebrity drug offenders can profoundly influence attitudes, values and behaviour towards drug abuse, particularly among young people."
Cocaine is now the second most widely taken drug after cannabis, with 755,000 users in England and Wales, according to the British Crime Survey.
So is it celebs who make it acceptable, the norm, cool - or are some of you doing it anyway?
Dear Victoria
One of this mornings telephone contributors spoke about the decline in democracy.
I would like a referendum on the same grounds. As I understand the situation the original proposal was for a European Constitution which was turned down. Then they came up with the existing proposal that according to discussions on radio and T.V. are very suspect as to the changes supposed to have been made. There is no clear picture for the general public as to what the current government is prepared to agree to on behalf of the country. A referendum would force the issues into the open and the electorate would have a real opportunity to let their elected representative know the feeling of the country.
While on of democracy the glaring example in a major democracy change being enacted in this country that Governments have failed their responsibility to engage the will of the electorate. This is the reform of the House of Lords what is more fundamental to this country's democracy? . This has been going on for years how much has been steered by back room meeting agreements. What do we know about the House of Commons Changes?? What else has/is being decided/enacted that affects our democracy ? Where are the investigative reporters informing the Public of the decline in this countries democracy - to busy with celebrities nefarious activities or sensational rubbish.
How can a Government be trusted that does not inform and engage the people in the decision making process.
Regards
Mike
Stockport
Dennis McShane said in Re a referendum
"well are we going to hold a referendum about every amending treaty we sign ?"
..............and i was screaming at the Radio " someone say yes why not , its that inconvenient thing called democracy Dennis "
The fact of the matter is that the propagator of the original Constitution Valerie Giscard D'estang says that the treaty is the same thing in almost all its particular and as such our overlords should stop their lies and honour ( ha honour when talking about a new labour politician ) their Election Manifesto Pledge .
The problem is not celebrities taking drugs..its the media reporting it. If, as you mediatypes keep saying, you are concerned about the effect celebrities taking drugs has on young people and that it encourages drug use, then why report it ?. The only reason that anybody knows that celebrities take drugs is because newspapers, radio shows etc make such a big fuss about it. If the media didnt report celebrity drug stories then fans or young, supposedly easily influenced, people wouldnt know they were doing it and therefore couldnt be influenced by their behaviour. What it all comes down to is the usual media hypocrisy....pretending to be concerned about the welfare of youngsters when all the time the real aim is to run sensational stories that will sell more papers or attract more listeners. If the media was genuinely concerned about drug taking celebs, they would ignore them and that way no one could be influenced by anything they do !