Pop Star in Drugs Evil Warning (1986)

 Pop Star in Drugs Evil Warning

By Chris Logan

Coventry Evening Telegraph

July 17, 1986

    Pop star Paul McCartney warned young people today to stay away from the evils of drugs. McCartney, 44, who has been fined three times for drug offenses and spent nine days in a Tokyo jail, said youngsters would feel better if they avoided drugs, alcohol, and cigarettes.

     Interviewed on BBC's Breakfast Time, the former Beatles said, "I would warn people, particularly anyone who's getting into anything like heroin, which is a known killer, heavy alcohol, which is a known killer, heavy cocaine. Really, stay away from all of them quite categorically.

     McCartney, who once campaigned for the legalization of cannabis, then added, "I think cigarettes, alcohol, soft drugs, and so on, all up the line. Really, all of them are dangerous. The smarter kids are the ones who stay away from them."

     McCartney spent nine days in a Tokyo jail in 1980 after allegedly being found with cannabis on arrival at the city's airport. He has been fined for possessing the drug in Scotland and Sweden, and was fined in Barbados in January 1984 for possession. 

    McCartney told interviewer Selina Scott, however, that he has no regrets about taking drugs. "I am not going to stand up for or against it. I don't regret anything I've done in my life." But he agrees that pop stars should discourage young people from using drugs. He spoke as the government launched a £2 million  anti-drug campaign