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Time to get on my soapbox: pop stars glorifying drug use, drug abuse, and drug addiction. Amy Winehouse in particular. She’s young-ish. She’s trendy. She’s incredibly talented, her music and her voice are so appealing, timeless. She sounds so sophisticated and soulful and deep. But my god, that woman is a mess. Had I never read an article, seen a picture, I would still be able to enjoy her music and picture her as an old black woman singing her heart out. Even the rehab - no no no song, you don’t think of it as auto-biographical, seems like she is singing about someone else to me. But there she is again and again, arrested and in and out of drug rehab. And is it coke? heroin? alcohol addiction?

Drug addiction is not something to brag about, sing about in that way. To glorify wanting to avoid drug treatment programs is pitiful. Drug addiction wrecks lives, it tears families apart and it ruins futures for young adults. And drug treatment is complicated. For drug rehab, I picture Twelve step programs, alcoholics anonymous, counseling, out patient drug treatment programs, or full blown rehab, all choices that addicts make, and here we have a singer making it sound cool to refuse to go. I love that song, but the message is appalling. I am sure there is a different meaning, maybe somewhere buried in the lyrics is a lesson or point of view, but in the meantime what is stuck in my head, and stuck in our youths heads, is “no-no-no” “I ain’t got the time”. Shameful and embarrassing.  I know that drugs and pop culture have been intertwined, I know stars die from drug overdoses, this is old news, but something about her is so disturbing.