Pubdate: Tue, 5 Jan 1999 Source: Daily Telegraph (UK) Copyright: Telegraph Group Limited 1999 Contact: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/ Author: Jessica Callan, Entertainment Reporter DRUGS TSAR ACCUSES STARS OF ARROGANCE SHOWBUSINESS and professional figures were criticised yesterday for talking about using drugs such as cocaine and accused of being guilty of "intellectual arrogance". Keith Hellawell, the UK Drugs Co-ordinator, said they were wrong to think they were not damaging society because they did not have to resort to theft in order to finance their use. He told the Today programme on Radio 4: "I wish they'd stop it, there is this arrogance - - I call it an intellectual arrogance. If they are dealing with my pension fund on the dealing floors they could be causing me damage. It isn't a joke, it's deadly serious." Rock groups such as Oasis, The Verve and Primal Scream have all alluded to drugs in their music and in their private lives. Noel Gallagher, of Oasis, was criticised for saying drug taking was so common it's "like having a cup of tea". In 1997 he told Radio 1 that if he was made Mayor of London he would legalise drugs. The pop star Brian Harvey was temporarily dropped from the group East 17 after calling Ecstasy "safe" and condoning the rave drug in a radio interview. He said: "If it brings out the better in someone and, in the long run, it's a safe pill and it isn't doing you harm, I don't see the problem. I've done pills myself, I've done 12 in one night, loads of them." Richard Ashcroft, the singer from The Verve, who achieved fame with the hit song The Drugs Don't Work, said: "They make me worse. But I still take them. Out of boredom and frustration, you turn to something else to escape." Bobby Gillespie, from Primal Scream, described drugs as an alternative to watching television. He said: "If you're on a council estate what are you going to do? Watch Emmerdale re-runs or get smashed out of your brains? We get really excited when the drugs turn up." - --- MAP posted-by: Patrick Henry