LILY ALLEN has defended drug use, slammed Christianity and attacked her own record label – in her most controversial ever interview.
Criticising the ‘hysteria’ around cocaine, she said: “The only story is that drugs are bad and they will kill you – you will become a prostitute, a rapist or a dealer. But that’s not true.
“I know lots of people who take cocaine three nights a week and get up and go to work.
“But we never hear that side of the story.
“I wish people wouldn’t sensationalise it.
“Some people are just bad at taking drugs.”
Lily admits taking cocaine – because she felt left out when those around her were doing it – but says she didn’t enjoy the experience.
The singer’s comments have caused outrage among Sun readers, politicians and drug charities who have labelled her “sick”, “naïve” and “misguided”.
Shadow Home Secretary Dominic Grieve said: “There is no doubt that drugs fuel crime and wreck lives.
“It’s naïve to assume there isn’t human misery and suffering associated with every drug transaction somewhere along the line.”
MySun users have been debating Lily’s comments below this article – with some agreeing but many angry at the star.
One wrote: “How can she say there’s nothing wrong with cocaine?
“My best mate died in front of me at just 23 years old in June 2007 – leaving his son without a dad and this was all because he had the same attitude.
“She makes me sick!”
David Raynes, from the National Drugs Prevention Alliance, said: “When someone like Lily Allen makes these remarks she is only harming young people who will at some point in their lives have to make a decision about taking drugs.
“We already have a major drug culture in the UK and she is affecting that.”
A spokesman for drug and alcohol treatment charity Addaction told The Sun: “These comments are misguided.
“There isn’t a ‘good’ or right way to take drugs and cocaine poses huge health risks to anyone using it – particularly if you drink alcohol with it.
“Fortunately, independent research carried out by Addaction last year showed the vast majority of young people, 86 per cent, aren’t influenced by celebrities when it comes to drugs and booze.”
Speaking about religion in the interview with Word magazine, Lily continued: “I don’t like Christianity much.
“I was brought up in a Catholic school and they told me gays, adultery and drugs were bad.
“All my mum’s friends were gay, my dad was having affairs and there were drugs in the house when I was a kid, so it was a bit cruel.”
Even record label EMI didn’t escape Lily’s wrath – as she talked candidly about her earnings.
She added: “I got £50,000 for my first album and I sold a lot of records.
“Twenty years ago, I’d have been booked in at the Ritz with five grams of cocaine on my table and 10 bunches of flowers. Some new clothes. A chauffeur on 24-hour call.
“Now I’m lucky to get an Oyster card. I ask for a hotel in Paris and I get a two-star place in the eighth arrondissement on my own.
“I’m like: ‘Do you want me to get raped and killed?’”
(source)
