Blur's Alex James calls cocaine 'a trail of death'

Blur's Alex James called cocaine a "relentless trail of death".

The bassist recently visited Colombia to film a documentary about its drug trade. After seeing the situation there, he told Newsbeat: "It's a relentless trail of death, it's just not stopping and it did start to wear me down."

James has publicly admitted to using cocaine himself, mentioning in his autobiography that he spent "a million pounds on champagne and cocaine," but the star has since quit using.

James was invited by Colombian president Alvaro Uribe along with other celebrities linked to cocaine use to witness first-hand the harm it has done to the South American country.

"My heart started beating faster when I was met at the airport by heavily armed security guards and escorted to a bomb-proof monster truck," he said, adding, "The cash generated by coke basically has been funding a civil war that's been raging for decades."

James said that drug use among musicians has almost become acceptable, but he hopes that shedding light on the negative impact it has on others may change people's attitudes.

"It's seen as a victimless crime I suppose taking drugs, but if you follow the trail of dots back to Colombia it's pretty horrible."

--By our Los Angeles staff.
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