Musicians, actors, and rappers make a life involving drugs seem like a lifestyle worth living. Addiction stories are portrayed through lyrics that young people are constantly hearing. Today’s media causes problems not only for the celebrities who speak of drug use, but also for the people who admire drug-addicted celebrities.
“I think this music sounds great,” student Tyler Smith said. “But it is very destructive and ungodly. It is also very uncomfortable to listen to with parents.”
In September, The Weeknd’s song, “Can’t Feel My Face” was the #1 song in the country. “And I know she’ll be the death of me, at least we’ll both be numb,” starts off the hit single and leads to the artist personifying his dependency on drugs, especially cocaine. The chorus of the song goes, “I can’t feel my face when I’m with you, but I love it.” This line is continuously repeated throughout the entire song, and portrays that he loves the feeling of cocaine. Much of society does not see this as negative.
“I like his work ethic and think it’ s a cool story like how he came up from being homeless and all,” sophomore Kyle Reed said. “The Weeknd took the whole sex, drugs, and money lifestyle to another level. I think the Weeknd has done pretty big things for himself and R&b music today.”
Both Lana Del Rey’s “High By The Beach,” and Tove Lo’s “Habits,” were in the top 100 songs throughout 2015. These two songs refer to being “high” as an escape from their thoughts about a particular person. “You’re gone and I gotta stay high, all the time, to keep you off my mind,” is the main focus of the hit by Tove Lo.
“I think the song ‘Habits’ is bad yes,” student Mandy Brown said. “I really think she is trying to tell people how empty she is and that life is really dragging her down and killing her but no one cares or notices.”
Drug references being popular is not a new thing. In the Rolling Stones “Sister Morphine,” Mick Jagger sings of faceless doctors, cocaine, morphine, and crawling across the floor. At the end of this song, Jagger asks “sister morphine” to help turn his nightmares into dreams, and for “cousin cocaine” to lay its hand on his head. By referring to these drugs as family members, he is portraying them as trustworthy and helpful.
In addition to music, much of television has glamorized the use of marijuana and other drugs. Many sit-coms portray the most average of characters as persons who have smoked weed, which causes the viewer to see it less as a drug.
” I am very concerned with how our society has glorified the use of drugs,” CTE teacher Neda Morrow said. “It seems like everywhere I look, someone is telling our younger generation that it is cool to smoke weed or to use ‘herbs’ and that anyone who disagrees is ‘lame’ or ‘uncool.’ I am afraid that it has seeped into popular culture to the extent that kids don’t understand that it’s a serious issue.”
