The lost era of the drug abusing hero

by Hannah Vickers and Evie Jeffreys

Today’s celebrity drug users seem to be met with a very different reception from those of the past. The hippies, the bohemians and the then-suave ‘popism’ art types were all part of distinct and popular scenes. It seemed romantic and revolutionary.

What many in the eye of the media today do not seem to realise is that the boat has sailed. It is no longer seen as a creative, semi-innocent blast.

The youth of the noughties still do drugs – that has not changed – but do the public idolise this generation’s famous junkies? Will any of us be reminiscing about Kerry Katona or Mischa Barton as fondly as we think of Jimi Hendrix or Jefferson Airplane?

When we speak about today’s celebrities and their drug addictions and bouts in rehab it is with a pitying tilt of the head and a disapproving roll of the eyes.

Perhaps it is the way that the media portrays them, but there no longer seems to be such a dedicated following or celebration of their achievements. Nowadays, are we just following their latest embarrassments in Heat and celebrating their demise in the news?

Drug Idol

Amy Winehouse has been the queen of rehab for some time. Although her voice is highly praised, her behaviour is not. She has been photographed walking around the streets in jeans and her bra, punching fans, and was known to have a volatile and drug-fuelled relationship with her husband.

Fans still buy tickets to see her, but as her performances become less impressive, many people now go out of curiosity, intrigued to witness how slurred her words will be or to see the size of her pupils.

Pete Doherty is a classic example of someone who lingers in the drug-saturated era of the past. He attracted a large following while in The Libertines.

His Byron-esque lyrics and obsession with poetry and tragedy romanticised his drug use, but his involvement in crack and heroin and his numerous arrests have lost him respect.

Whitney Houston is another star with a renowned voice and a history of drugs spanning from the early '90s. Once having been arrested at an airport after two bags of marijuana were found in her luggage. This year, she admitted to Oprah that she had been using marijuana and cocaine since she finished her 1992 movie The Bodyguard.

Her addiction got so severe that her mother went to her home with police, armed with a court injunction in a desperate bid to get her into rehab. Even as recently as last month there was speculation she was still using after her erratic behaviour on the X Factor live show.

Lindsay Lohan was reported to have participated in a: “marathon cocaine binge” only 20, days after she left rehab. She is also known to have had problems with alcohol and it was alleged by The News of the World that while attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings she filled her water bottles with vodka.