Cigarettes and booze ‘gateway to illegal drugs’
MARION McMULLEN LOOKS AT WHO’S HIT THE HIGH NOTES FOR
CIGARETTES and booze are gateway drugs that lead on to illegal substances, a new study by the University of Bristol has revealed.
Researchers found that when people consume legal drugs like tobacco and alcohol, they might be more inclined to use more dangerous and illegal substances.
The study from the University of Bristol also found evidence that cannabis use may lead to smoking other substances, while dependence on opioid drugs could lead to alcohol consumption.
Dr Zoe Reed, a senior research associate in the Tobacco and Alcohol Research Group at Bristol’s School of Psychological Science, co-authored the paper.
She said: “Legal consumption of alcohol and tobacco may directly increase the level of illicit drug use.
“However, the relationships are complex.
“Consuming one drug does appear to increase the consumption of another, but it may also be the case that people have underlying risk factors which increase their chances of consuming both alcohol and tobacco and illicit drugs.”
In this study, Dr Reed and her colleagues used known genetic variants that predispose people to use tobacco, alcohol, cannabis, opioids or stimulants like cocaine.
They then looked at whether there might be an underlying relationship between each drug.
The team was able to reach the conclusion that if people are exposed to one type of drug, they would likely use another substance as a result.
They noted that there could be more than one cause and effect relationship between the two drugs, for example, some people could be more genetically likely to use substances.
Hazel Cheeseman, Deputy Chief Executive of Action on Smoking and Health commenting on the study’s implications, said: “Tobacco and alcohol cause tremendous harm to society, and these findings indicate that they may also increase the use of other drugs.
“Governments tend to take separate approaches to reducing the harm from legal and illegal drugs, but the long-promised Addictions Strategy provides an opportunity to look at the overlap between addictions and be more integrated.”
Similar studies have been conducted to understand the relationship between consuming different drugs and previous evidence has identified that some people are more impulsive when it comes to taking drugs.
The study was supported by Public Health England and Bristol’s MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit, with the NIHR Bristol Biomedical Research Centre and the report was published in the journal.
DAME Shirley Bassey will forever be linked with 007.
The Welsh legend from Tiger Bay has belted out three classic James Bond theme songs – Goldfinger in 1964, Diamonds Are Forever in 1971 and Moonraker in 1979.
She even made a surprise appearance at the Oscars in 2013 when, at the age of 76, she gave a showstopping performance of Goldfinger as part of a celebration of 50 years of James Bond films.
The song brought the house down and resulted in a two-minute standing ovation by an audience of Hollywood A-listers.
Dame Shirley has called Goldfinger the big turning point in her career, but insists she had no idea how iconic the Bond theme songs would become. “There was no way of knowing until the film was shown,” she said.
Fellow Welsh singer Sir Tom Jones followed in Dame Shirley’s footsteps in 1965 to sing the theme tune to Thunderball. He enjoyed chart success the same year with It’s Not Unusual.
Releases of the latest Bond theme tune has become a newsmaking event over the years. British performers Adele and Sam
Smith have both taken home Oscars for their 007 performances. Adele won in 2012 for Skyfall and Sam in 2015 for Writing’s On The Wall from Spectre.
Frank Sinatra’s daughter Nancy became the first American to sing the theme tune when she provided the vocals for You Only Live Twice in 1967.
Iconic jazz singer and trumpet player Louis Armstrong had to wait 25 years for his song We Have All The Time In The World to chart from 1969 movie On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. It eventually became a number three hit in 1994.
Roger Moore made his 007 debut in 1973 movie Live And Let Die. Paul
McCartney &
Wings provided the rock and roll theme song. According to Sir Paul, director Guy Hamilton said after hearing the song for the first time “Yeah, that’s good for a demo, but when are you going to do the real record?” The track went on to become a top 10 chart hit.
Lulu has said she and Madonna should be crowned joint winners for the title of the worst Bond theme ever recorded. Lulu sang for the 1974 film outing The Man With The Golden Gun and Madonna sang and appeared on screen in Pierce Brosnan’s last 007 film Die Another Day in 2002. Sir Elton John called it the “worst Bond tune ever”.
Fittingly, Carly Simon fared better with Nobody Does It Better in 1977 for The Spy Who Loved Me.
Scottish singer Sheena Easton enjoyed chart success in 1981 with her theme song For Your Eyes Only.
The Octopussy theme tune, All Time High, in 1983 came from American singer Rita Coolidge.
British band Duran Duran performed A View To A Kill in 1985. The song was written by the band and long-time James Bond composer John Barry and reached number one in the American charts and number two in the UK. Bassist John Taylor is a life-long James Bond fan and is said to have approached producer Albert R Broccoli at a party to
ask “When are you going to get someone decent to do one of your theme songs?” Duran Duran were followed by A-ha in 1987 with The Living Daylights, while singer Gladys Knight sang on the 1989 movie Licence To Kill.
Tina Turner’s 1995 hit GoldenEye was written for her by U2 bandmembers Bono and The Edge and became an international hit.
Sheryl Crow lent her voice to the 1997 movie Tomorrow Never Dies, while Garbage performed The World Is Not Enough in 1997.
Former Sondgarden frontman Chris Cornell sang You Know My Name on Daniel Craig’s 007 debut Casino Royale in 2006 and Jack White and Alicia Keys joined forces for Another Way To Die for Quantum Of Solace in 2008.
American teenager Billie Eilish says she wrote the track to the latest James Bond movie No Time To Die with her brother Finneas O’Connell in just three days when they were both on a tour bus.
At 18, the Grammy award winner is the youngest singer to record a James Bond theme tune and said 007 actor Daniel Craig had to give his approval of the track.
“James Bond is the coolest film franchise ever to exist,” says Billie, “I’m still in shock.”