Drugs are a huge problem in the art community. Whether it be singers and musicians, or even painters and sculptors, the influence of drugs does not discriminate. The reasons vary, for some they resort to drugs because of mental illnesses, others simply take them because they experimented once and were hooked. The culture of wealthy icons doesn’t help the situation.

Singer and actor Demi Lovato became hooked on cocaine at the age of 17, while filming the popular movie series, “Camp Rock.” Even though Lovato was just a kid and filming a kid’s movie, the temptation of drugs reached out even to her, and after trying it once, Lovato reported that she was hooked.
“It actually makes me very sad that at such a young age she got addicted to cocaine, which is such a serious drug. Especially since she started it while she was working on a Disney movie, I would have never thought that someone can be offered drugs while working on a kid’s movie. It’s scary,” sophomore Allie Rothman said.

Although Lovato was addicted to cocaine for several years, she was lucky in that she gained and recently celebrated six years of sobriety.

Unfortunately it is common among stars to become so addicted to drugs that it results in ruined careers, or worse the artist’s death. Among many celebrity deaths that have occurred as a result to drug abuse, one of the most famous is that of Michael Jackson. The 50 year old singer was reported to be addicted to prescription drugs, allegedly given to him by his doctor. Whereever the truth lies in the source of Jackson’s drugs, the tragic end to the story remains the same, the King of Pop was found dead on June 25, 2009 as a result of a drug overdose.

“It was really sad that Michael died, especially because I know that he was about to start his comeback tour. I think it probably came from the fact that he had a pretty messed up childhood apparently. Either way it’s just sad in general that he overdosed,” senior Connor Demitz said.

The various reasons for celebrities resorting to drugs are often vague and leave people guessing what in their lives led them to get addicted to drugs.

“I think the most common cause is probably depression, I think most artists who die as a result of drugs are probably very depressed and struggling with a lot of stuff that they’ll never talk about to the media,” freshman Elena Eisen said.

Whatever the reason may be that artists turn the drugs, the bottom line is that drug culture is a huge part of the artistic industry, and chances are, that they will continue to plague the industry for many more years to come.