So Kate Moss is a drug user. So what?

I don't cover recreational drug use in this blog very much. It is, however, something which fits well within my original vision. So I would be remiss in failing to comment on the recent Kate Moss flap.

It seems that some tabloid published pictures allegedly showing Moss snorting a line of cocaine. Moss later admitted that was an accurate description of what she was doing. Then the shit started to hit the fan.

First Hennes & Mauritz dumped her:

Clothing chain Hennes & Mauritz said Tuesday that it would drop a planned advertising campaign with model Kate Moss after she admitted to recently using cocaine. H&M had planned to use Moss to launch a collection designed by Stella McCartney. H&M initially said it would proceed with the campaign, but a company rep said Tuesday that "we have decided that a campaign with Kate Moss is not consistent with H&M's clear disassociation from drugs."

Some more on H&M's reaction:

Yesterday's bold statement from H&M will do her no favours. 'H&M is strongly against drugs and for many years has actively supported the drug preventing organisation Mentor Foundation,' it said.

[...]

The Mentor Foundation is a not-for-profit international organisation which works to prevent drug misuse among children and young people.

It is not known if H&M will recoup any of the money it paid Moss for the campaign. The pictures for Miss McCartney's range, taken several months ago by Mario Sorrenti, were due to be launched in November.

The designer is said to be 'apoplectic with rage' at Moss. A source close to her says she feels particularly let down because it was she who suggested the model to H&M. The source said she was determined not to be associated with Moss's drug-taking lifestyle.

Okay, here we have the first problem with all of this. It has long been known, by anyone with half a brain, that Kate Moss is a recreational cocaine user, and a fairly heavy one at that. Hell, even I was peripherally aware of it, and I don't follow the fashion industry at all. So I find it a bit surprising for H&M and McCartney to imply they were unaware of it. Yes indeed, they are shocked, SHOCKED! to discover that Moss is a cokehead.

Next, the police decided it was their moral duty to investigate:

Following the news that she's been dumped by fashion label H&M, the police have now confirmed that the supermodel is under investigation after pictures showed her allegedly snorting cocaine.

A spokeswoman for Scotland Yard said: "Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur has reviewed the matter and has asked officers from the specialist crime directorate to look at reports, as highlighted in a national newspaper."

Apparently, the issue is her influence on young people, who, heaven knows, are all going to rush right out to the nearest drug dealer just because of this sudden, shocking revealation:

News of the end of Moss's contracts came as Sir Ian Blair, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, said any decision to bring charges against the model for her alleged drug abuse would depend on her influence on young people.

"We have to look at the impact of this kind of behaviour on impressionable young people and if there is evidence, something should be done about it," Sir Ian said.

Most recently, Chanel and Burberry decided to join the pile-on (from that same article):

Kate Moss had more bad news today when Chanel and Burberry said she would no longer star in their ad campaigns and the head of the Metropolitan police said examples should be made of celebrity drug takers.

Chanel announced this afternoon that Moss would not represent its Coco Mademoiselle fragrance once her current contract expires in October. Later, Burberry said it was cancelling a planned advertising campaign.

What will happen next? Moss still has a couple of big contracts left, but will she be able to obtain any more once those expire? Is her entire career going to be trashed just for getting caught doing something that's fairly common within the rail-thin, highly-paid model community?

Frankly, this whole thing smells pretty rank to me. It smells like Moss is being scapegoated, and it's smelled like that ever since H&M dumped her. It's not as if this sort of drug use hasn't been going on among the elite for a long, long time. Why are people first starting to care right at this moment? Is it just because the published photos and Moss's admission created a situation they felt they couldn't ignore anymore? Or is it because Moss is a beautiful, successful woman and people often can't resist lashing out at beautiful, successful women out of sheer, petty jealousy? Especially thin, beautiful, successful women, in this western culture where the majority of people have basically given up even trying not to be fat, and who probably, secretly hate themselves for it?

Only time will tell, I suppose. The very first thing I expect to see, if this situation actually is being dealt with fairly, is for the British police to start going after other high-profile drug users.

I'd like to close by recommending a book that, although it was published quite a while ago, and although the author is no longer even alive, has a lot to say about this sort of situation. It's called Ain't Nobody's Business if You Do: The Absurdity of Consensual Crimes in Our Free Country, and the author is Peter McWilliams. It's available at that link free of charge. I was lucky enough to find a hard copy of it at the library years ago, but I imagine it's not in print anymore, which would explain why there's a free online edition available. I'd also like to note that, in spite of the fact that Kate Moss's "crime" happened in the United Kingdom, what McWilliams writes applies there just as well as here in the States.