Rock Stars and Anti-Drug Messages

Do kids listen when David Crosby . . . or Vince Neil . . . or Alice Cooper . . . or Steven Tyler . . . preach about the perils of drug use? Or are recovering-addict rock stars possibly encouraging young fans to abuse drugs?

That’s the focus of an acrimonious debate spawned by a statement by William Bennett buried in the drug czar’s voluminous National Drug Control Strategy report, which outlines President George Bush’s much-debated new $7.9-billion get-tough war on drugs. Bennett, who has said “morally I don’t have any problem” with beheading drug leaders, criticized TV commercials starring reformed rock-star drug users as “counterproductive.” He added: “Such commercials may lack credibility, and they also carry an unintended message: That you can do drugs and still be rich and successful.”

Should recovering rock-star addicts just shut up? “I think what William Bennett has to say is totally irrational, hypocritical and dumb,” responded Danny Goldberg, the pop activist who produced Rock Against Drugs (RAD), a pivotal 1987 TV campaign that featured such luminaries as Jon Bon Jovi, Belinda Carlisle and Phil Collins warning kids against drugs.

“People like Bennett always criticize rock stars for not doing more to stop drugs, but now he’s deriding rock stars for doing something to help the anti-drug fight. This is just another sign of the Bush Administration’s total bankruptcy when it comes to fighting drugs and other social problems. They don’t have a real program, so they go after publicity by badmouthing well-meaning rock figures.”

Bennett’s remarks came just weeks after 180,000 fans jammed Moscow’s Lenin Stadium to watch Bon Jovi, Motley Crue and Ozzy Osbourne perform at a two-day rock festival whose goal was to raise money to combat drug abuse in the United States and Soviet Union. Motley Crue’s Nikki Sixx seemed to echo some of Bennett’s sentiments when he told journalists after his show: “We’ve all done drugs . . . but we are not here to preach against drugs, because a kid will just rebel against you and do it. . . . The important thing (is to be) a role model of some sort and relate your own experience and explain why drugs are bad.”

However, Dr. Dave Lewis, an authority on substance abuse and director of the nonprofit anti-drug organization co-sponsoring the festival, has argued: “When kids hear Nikki Sixx say that drugs almost killed him, a lot of them take notice. Rock stars and athletes can be enormously effective role models for kids (as long as) they speak straight from the heart.”

Don Hamilton, Bennett’s Director of Public Affairs, insists the drug czar’s remarks were not meant as an attack of rock values. “I think it’s being hypersensitive to say anyone in the administration is picking on pop stars,” he said. “We’re not questioning their good intentions. But the subliminal message recovering addict rock stars are sending is--I got straight and I’m still rich and famous. So here’s this rich, glamorous celebrity saying, ‘Don’t do as I have done, do as I say.’ The advice we’ve had from experts in addiction and psychology is that rock stars who have not had addictions would be better role models.”

Where do today’s rock stars stand on this issue? Here’s a look at some startling responses from several recovering addicts, and Frank Zappa, who says he’s never taken drugs:

* Steve Jones (ex-Sex Pistols guitarist): “When I was 16, I wouldn’t have stopped doing drugs even if Jimi Hendrix had told me to. I didn’t stop till I was ready. But I think kids can get the picture a lot quicker if they hear that it’s not happening to do drugs. And I think the punishments for drug crimes should be more severe. I agree with Bennett about that--beheading some of those drug lords would be a good start. When I did my RAD spots, I simply shared my own experience. And when I go to Alcoholics Anonymous, that’s what I do--share my own experience. I don’t know if I really change kids’ lives. But when they ask me, I tell them I shot heroin for 10 years and when I stopped, my life got a helluva lot better.”

* Frank Zappa: “I think William Bennett is exactly the wrong guy for the drug-czar job. But I happen to agree with a lot of what he said, even if I’m deeply suspicious of any drug war run by a left-over ideologue from the Reagan Administration. All these years the administration has been encouraging private enterprise to help solve the country’s problems. But now they’re saying, ‘Don’t do your share.’ Still, there have been too many incidences of people who’ve made (jerks) of themselves while addicted to drugs, gotten well and then made a career out of being a recovered drug fiend. David Crosby has gone on ‘Nightline’ to lecture against drugs. But if you were a teen-ager, would you want to be admonished by a Woodstock generation refugee? It would be worse than being lectured by your parents. “

* Stevie Ray Vaughan: “I don’t think having had a problem disqualifies me from getting a message across to kids. I have more credibility than I’ve ever had, because I have credibility with myself, which is where it all starts. If you’re straight with yourself, I think people listen to you. When I’m in concert, I say I’ve had problems with drugs and alcohol. I boil it down real quick--drugs will kill you. And I think people listen. I had a 70-year-old gentleman come up to me the other day and thank me for being such a good role model for his kids. And I said, ‘Wow! I’d always been the guy whose parents didn’t want me around their kids!’ ”

* Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler: “Bless Nancy Reagan’s heart, but you can’t just say no. That’s like telling a manic depressant to just cheer up. I think William Bennett has a very shallow understanding of the disease I have. The way to really get to kids is to share with them what happened to you. You have to show your vulnerability. I tell them I would’ve never gotten straight unless I hit bottom first. When you do drugs, you can only die, go to jail or end up in an insane asylum. And I think kids listen to you if you show your vulnerability. Because deep down inside, I don’t know if I’m going to start up with drugs again. All I know is it was too late for Jimi and Janis. And I don’t want it to be too late for me.”