Broadcasting executives addicted to cocaine are routinely praised by bosses for their “creative genius”, a former BBC producer told MPs.
Sarah Graham, who worked on children’s programmes for the corporation and took cocaine for nine years, said use of the drug remained widespread among senior media executives and taking it helped to boost their careers.
Appearing before a Home Affairs Select Committee inquiry into the cocaine trade, Ms Graham, 40, said that she had been offered the drug on her first day at the corporation by a Radio 5 Live presenter. “The producer and presenter took me to a Soho media watering-hole after the show. I had a few glasses of champagne,” she said. “They asked if I wanted to go to the toilet and do some cocaine. I’m ashamed to say I didn’t know much beyond the hype and glamour about the drug and I said yes.”
Ms Graham, now an addiction counsellor, said that many television executives continued to use the drug beyond their 20s. But as it warped their character, and their behaviour became more erratic, they were often praised for their off-the-wall brilliance. “As your addiction progresses, certain behaviour that would not be tolerated in a normal job can be spun as part of your creative genius or extraordinary personality,” she said.
“Their off-the-wall behaviour is tolerated and people bow down to them. It’s similar with City traders whose cocaine addiction combines with a gambling addiction, causing them to take incredible risks.”
Ms Graham, who went on to use heroin and crack, said: “I worked at MTV in 1997 and there was very much a cocaine drug culture existing at that time. If you wanted to be a top director, that’s what you did. It was very easy for a young person to get pulled into that.”
She added: “Some companies I worked for were worse than others. It tended to be from the top down — if you had somebody who owned the company who was a heavy cocaine user or if the bosses used cocaine.”
No comments:
Post a Comment