Is Clubland Starting To Say No to Cocaine-

Danny Rampling this week blamed "negativity and corporate cocaine brokers" for introducing uncertainty into England's club scene, telling 7 Update, "there's too much greed, envy and inflated egos which are overshadowing club land's goodness." His comments followed similar views expressed by industry figurehead Eddie Gordon who recently suggested a "cocaine clique of 2002" have "strangled the ecstasy of 1995's club world."

The pair's rejection of the Class A drug echo the views of Germany's number one DJ Sven Vath, who discussed the issue with Skrufff in April.

"I still see many colleagues, DJs and people in night life, getting older and still doing cocaine and they're really paranoid and keep on telling the same lies," said Sven. Admitting he'd had a serious habit himself, Sven gave up following the birth of his daughter.

"I knew I was going to have to confront it because I would get offered the same shit every weekend," he recalled.

"I was like 'No, no, no' while my friends were like 'Come on Sven' and suddenly I realized what kind of friends I had. I realized they were only there because of the drugs and thought 'how stupid is that- Then I really saw who were my friends and who weren't."

His decision to quit was wise, according to Dominic Stretfield, author of Cocaine- an Unauthorised Biography.

"Whatever you may think about your own recreational use of it, cocaine is a dangerous and addictive drug," he says in the latest issue of Seven Monthly.

"Like alcohol, a majority will use with no significant damage, but a minority will screw up comprehensively with it."
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