Who doesn’t love a good train wreck like Lindsay Lohan or Britney Spears? For us “ordinary folk” (those of us who wear Old Navy, drink PBR and dream of tetris being an Olympic sport) there’s nothing like a healthy dose of tabloid exploitation on those who live in (what at least appears to be) an alternate universe… where dogs wear juicy couture, cars come equipped with mini-bars, breasts double as flotation devices and pocket lint is laced with cocaine.

Is it true though? Or are the tabloids just running exaggerated fantasies to harpoon mass appeal? It’s hard to know because these grandiose lifestyles are perpetuated by the attention drawn to them (unless the celebrity is actually talented). Case in point — the Kardashian sex tape.

Bad publicity is good publicity, I suppose… especially for the venues that become associated with celebrity attendance (who doesn’t want to go to places where you might see a rockstar in a bar fight or catch Paris Hilton stripping down to… well… a slightly more naked version of her usual self?).

When talking about club publicity, nothing turns up the temp on a particular venue more than the drug habits of the celebrities. The scandalous behaviors of one Miss Britney Spears has made headlines for a variety of clubs in New York including an all time personal favorite, Marquee. Yes, she has been caught using drugs in the public bathrooms all around town and she’s not the only one. The question then becomes, of course, how many drugs are being done in these places? Certainly you run a high risk (pun intended) of being caught abusing drugs if you are a celebrity, but what about us ordinary folk? Are drugs swimming through the clubs as the tabloids would have us believe? Read More »

Attending college in the Northeast after growing up in a small Midwestern town nestled in the cornfields provided many “culture shocks” to say the least. One of the most memorable was the prevalence of cocaine usage among students. I was surprised to find out that cocaine was the popular drug of choice for many girls my age. Whether it was for the weight loss affects or just the appeal of staying up all night to party, I still could not grasp that people were really into this drug that seemed so hardcore to me. Aw, my little naive freshman self. How cute.

We all know about the supposed celeb cokeheads like Lindsay Lohan. I mean, a picture says a thousand words, right? But, I would venture to say that cocaine really has become a staple among college nightlife scenes. The New York Times investigates cocaine’s popularity as well and suggests that it is now much more socially accepted.

“There seems to be less of a stigma about cocaine,” said Dr. Herbert Kleber, director of the division of substance abuse at the New York State Psychiatric Institute in Manhattan…“People don’t feel nearly as much the need to hide it,” he said. “They feel that they can use it in a more open fashion.” Read More »