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"They don't seem to much care for what they find there, and drug use is unfortunately one of the most common results. I'm not sure why Winehouse should be vilified for it, anymore than Billie Holiday, Janis Joplin or Jimi Hendrix. Drug abuse isn't a moral failing, it's a mental health issue. I do find it interesting that Winehouse is coming under attack from folks who apparently aren't Reaganite Puritans for her drug use."
I, and I think a lot of people here, aren't upset that she uses drugs, but rather that she glamorizes drug use. Those artists all abused drugs, but they either 1) didn't sing in a direct way about their use, 2) weren't popular enough during their lifetime to exert much influence over the minds of others, or 3) weren't working within a culture where drug abuse is rampant and a real problem.
Say whatever you want about her music, but she's essentially acting as the Marlboro Man for hard drug abuse. I've unfortunately had a few musician friends pass away because they wanted to so badly to be the tortured emotional musician that Elliot Smith, Spiritualized, etc. represented. For them, drug use wasn't about their own tortured longings to find "real truth" or whatever this mythical musician is supposed to be searching for. It was about being young and trying to find an identity. Unfortunately, the identity they chose was one in which drug abuse was a pre-requisite for membership, at least in their eyes.
