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?

The answer is YES. I would never consider myself a drug abuser, but I know first hand that almost every club I have been to has it’s own underground microcosmic drug scene. Club Stereo was closed last year after several cocaine busts, though this came as no shock as Stereo was known for being “pot friendly” and leaving the club was like opening the Scoobie Doo van (smoke pouring out). Tenjune turns the other cheek when it comes to smoking the reefer in the VIP section and won’t ask why there are so many girls leaving the bathroom with runny noses. The real shocker comes from Le Souk where I witnessed some special k being snorted in the wide open.

I have also witnessed people getting arrested. Again, Club Stereo, you win in this department with flying colors. On two — no three occasions I witnessed drug raids there, but in the end, drug use was far far more frequent than the arrests that were made. This can probably be said true for almost any club and can be said especially true for celebrities. Amongst my celebrity encounters few involved sobriety (or much respect for, I dunno… THE LAW). Indeed, the Studio 54 mentality lives on in places like Bungalow 8 (where you might just order “a rum and coke.. hold the rum”).

These scenes are often under the radar of the public because of tight security. It’s nearly impossible to get in unless you know someone, ARE a celebrity or (at the very least) have your very own assistant. Places rarely have to answer to the law because undercover cops simply do not fit the demographic of these super-dooper (more like super-doper) high-end venues.

This doesn’t mean that the celebrity lives we read about aren’t embellished to perfection, but it certainly adds validity to the stories. The truth of the matter is, we aren’t living lives so separate from those we read about and if anything can be learned from the tabloids, it’s two things: 1) where the drugs are 2) where people get caught doing them.

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.”

And the rates have gone up as well among young people. According to a survey by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, there was a 20 percent increase in past-month use among 18-25 year olds in 2005 from 2004.

Not only has it become more accepted, but some people suggest it is even more accepted than smoking cigarettes nowadays. I found that shocking, personally.

“Tom Sykes, a former night-life reporter for The New York Post who chronicled his alcohol- and drug-fueled life in the memoir ‘What Did I Do Last Night?‘ said that cocaine is more socially acceptable than smoking. ‘You could go into a swanky party in New York and do a line and nobody would notice,’ said Mr. Sykes, who is now sober. ‘Pull out a cigarette and people would think you’d pulled out a gun.’” NYT.

There is no denying that cocaine is a major player in the nightlife scene in big cities, and in my opinion, on college campuses.

What do you think? Is cocaine the new weed?