(LONDON) - Pop lyrics promote drug abuse, claim U.K. police chiefs.
Chris Marlowe writes in Billboard Bulletin that Keith
Hellawell, drugs spokesman for the Assn. of Chief Police Officers
and Chief Constable of West Yorkshire, called for a new "code of
practice" that would ban all favorable references to drugs in
music, via self-censorship by musicians and others working in the
industry. "Children are influenced by their pop idols, and it does
break down the barriers that they have to drugs," argued Hellawell,
speaking last Monday on BBC TV. "I'm sure that many of these pop
stars are part of that influence, because they're drugged up to
their eyes themselves and therefore they think it's alright if they
push that message to other people." During the item on BBC2's daily
Newsnight program, videos were shown of "Ebenezer Goode"
by the Shamen and "Sorted For E's And Whizz" by
Pulp. "Wacky Dust" by Ella
Fitzgerald was also played. "I'm after the people who make
this music and make these noises. Many of them are self-confessed
drug addicts anyway," said Hellawell. Hellawell appeared frequently
on British TV in the early 1990s to express the police view on drug
use and was considered to be more liberal than some of his
predecessors. He once admitted that people took drugs "because they
enjoyed doing it" and described "raves" as "very friendly, happy
atmospheres because people are under the influence of Ecstasy."
From the Archives
English Government Explores Ban On Pro-Drug Lyrics
English Government Explores Ban On Pro-Drug Lyrics
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