# Unethical drug dealers are killing Amy Winehouse! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 25, 2008, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unethical-drug-dealers-are-killing-amy-winehouse/454182 "2008-06-25T13:49:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Linty\_Fresh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Linty\_Fresh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linty_Fresh)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2008, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unethical-drug-dealers-are-killing-amy-winehouse/454182/21 "2008-06-25T17:54:25Z")
[QUOTE=MoodIndigo1] It sounds like a desperate dad’s plea. If I had a very talented daughter self-destruct before my eyes, I’d be trying everything. I hope someone/something gets through to her soon, because I love her singing. I enjoyed the humour in the OP-- though I disagree with that view of the situation. [/QUOTE] Pretty much what I came in to say. What he said was stupid, but come on, people, it’s his _daughter!_ He’s watching his daughter kill herself in front of everyone on the planet, and there’s absolutely nothing he can do about it. If I were in his shoes, they would have locked me up in the nuthatch months ago, and I’d probably say some stupid things on the way. Can’t we cut him a _little_ slack? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2008, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unethical-drug-dealers-are-killing-amy-winehouse/454182/22 "2008-06-25T18:46:44Z")
Note to self: Death Pool, 2009. ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2008, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unethical-drug-dealers-are-killing-amy-winehouse/454182/23 "2008-06-25T18:51:45Z")
[QUOTE=Boyo Jim] Note to self: Death Pool, 2009. [/QUOTE] I am afraid that she might not be eligible for the 2009 death pool, as she might already be dead. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unethical-drug-dealers-are-killing-amy-winehouse/454182/24 "2008-06-26T00:13:46Z")
[QUOTE=Weirddave] I am afraid that she might not be eligible for the 2009 death pool, as she might already be dead. ☹ [/QUOTE] Hang in there Amy! Only six more months! ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/59ef9b/32.png) [@Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_fight_the_hypothetical)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unethical-drug-dealers-are-killing-amy-winehouse/454182/25 "2008-06-26T01:06:41Z")
[Amy at “crack den”.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u70Gl4RvG2k&feature=related) ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unethical-drug-dealers-are-killing-amy-winehouse/454182/26 "2008-06-26T01:25:41Z")
If she makes it to Jan. 1, she’ll be on _everybody_’s death-pool list. Rock’s answer to Nuke LaLoosh. Multimillion-dollar voice, ten-cent head. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unethical-drug-dealers-are-killing-amy-winehouse/454182/27 "2008-06-26T02:47:19Z")
[QUOTE=MoodIndigo1] If I had a very talented daughter self-destruct before my eyes, I’d be trying everything. [/QUOTE] What if she was kinda mediocre? ---
**Author:** ![MoodIndigo1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e8c25b/32.png) [@MoodIndigo1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MoodIndigo1)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unethical-drug-dealers-are-killing-amy-winehouse/454182/28 "2008-06-26T02:55:48Z")
[QUOTE=Bryan Ekers] What if she was kinda mediocre? [/QUOTE] Good point. The sentence was poorly structured, two ideas commingled. Any daughter. Amy just happens to be talented. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unethical-drug-dealers-are-killing-amy-winehouse/454182/29 "2008-06-26T03:04:29Z")
She’s a one-hit wonder who does a lot of drugs. This is what, the 1,783rd example in rock music history? ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unethical-drug-dealers-are-killing-amy-winehouse/454182/30 "2008-06-26T04:29:34Z")
I’m not a fan or anything, but I’d wager that most one-hit-wonders fail to win five Grammy Awards in one night. I know what it feels like to be self-destructive, but Winehouse takes that to incredible new heights. She should win some awards for _that_! ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unethical-drug-dealers-are-killing-amy-winehouse/454182/31 "2008-06-26T05:32:12Z")
She’s the world’s first fully functioning suicidal artist\*. She makes art until somebody (her) dies. \*Not really. I’m taking liberties for the use of a good quote. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/59ef9b/32.png) [@Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_fight_the_hypothetical)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unethical-drug-dealers-are-killing-amy-winehouse/454182/32 "2008-06-26T06:35:27Z")
[QUOTE=RickJay] She’s a one-hit wonder who does a lot of drugs. This is what, the 1,783rd example in rock music history? [/QUOTE] I’m new to her work but I gotta disagree. Put aside your bias and you will see she’s a very talented singer/ songwriter. ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unethical-drug-dealers-are-killing-amy-winehouse/454182/33 "2008-06-26T08:24:17Z")
In all seriousness, I think it _probably_ is unethical for drug dealers to continue to profit from someone who’s so obviously in the midst of a life-wreck. Whether or not it does any good for Mr. Winehouse to call out these drug dealers in the press is another matter. Wow. I read the _NY Post_, so I know who Amy Winehouse is, but I’d never actually heard a song of hers. I just now listened to [“Rehab”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LD5sahXoj0U) on Youtube, however . . . and that is one fantastic song. It’s better to burn out than to fade away, yo. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unethical-drug-dealers-are-killing-amy-winehouse/454182/34 "2008-06-26T10:29:14Z")
[QUOTE=VarlosZ] In all seriousness, I think it _probably_ is unethical for drug dealers to continue to profit from someone who’s so obviously in the midst of a life-wreck. [/QUOTE] Well, sure, but _unethical_ pretty much comes with the territory, doesn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unethical-drug-dealers-are-killing-amy-winehouse/454182/35 "2008-06-26T10:53:38Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] Well, sure, but _unethical_ pretty much comes with the territory, doesn’t it? [/QUOTE] Drug dealers may or may not tend to practice their profession unethically (I really couldn’t say), but there’s nothing inherently unethical about [what they do](http://blogs.tampabay.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/12/29/teddanson.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unethical-drug-dealers-are-killing-amy-winehouse/454182/36 "2008-06-26T11:43:53Z")
Wait. Bartenders come under your definition of _drug dealers_? I mean, I know alcohol is a drug, so that’s technically true, but c’mon - is it at all helpful to stretch a definition so broadly as to cover two quite distinct groups, with two probably quite distinct sets of ethics and behaviours? ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unethical-drug-dealers-are-killing-amy-winehouse/454182/37 "2008-06-26T12:12:11Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] Wait. Bartenders come under your definition of _drug dealers_? I mean, I know alcohol is a drug, so that’s technically true. . . [/QUOTE] It’s not just technically true. No doubt there tend to be differences, in practice, between those who sell licit drugs and those who sell illicit drugs, but they’re serving exactly the same function, and I see no reason why members of either group can’t be judged as acting ethically or unethically according to the same criteria. (Unless you believe that breaking the law is inherently immoral, in which case we’ll agree to disagree.) > [@](#): > > . . . is it at all helpful to stretch a definition so broadly as to cover two quite distinct groups, with two probably quite distinct sets of ethics and behaviours? Yes, I think it is helpful. What’s not helpful is the forced, arbitrary distinction between “booze” and “drugs,” and between those who sell/use one or the other. That is, if you’re not going to automatically assume that Sam Malone is immoral for catering to his regular lot of sadsack, underachieving, drug addicted [regulars](http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k118/lyssalyn514/NormCliff.jpg), nor should you automatically assume that distributors of other intoxicants are acting immorally. Of course, it may well be that a much higher proportion of illicit drug dealers behavior unethically than their legitimate counterparts (though I suspect that the difference in this regard is not as great as is generally assumed). To say, however, that unethical behavior “goes with the territory” strikes me as wrong; I’ve known a fair number of dealers who seemed to act as ethically as any typical businessman. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unethical-drug-dealers-are-killing-amy-winehouse/454182/38 "2008-06-26T12:59:10Z")
I think the distinctions are too many and too great to make the grouping worthwhile. Bartending is generally the legal, long-established, licensed selling of regulated, quality-controlled substances I don’t believe the same can be generally said of illegal drugs and the people producing and selling them. Sure, there are probably examples outside of the norm on either side, but that doesn’t make the groups the same. Who would you be more likely to trust in some generic hypothetical ethical dilemma - a randomly-picked barman or a randomly-picked crack dealer? ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unethical-drug-dealers-are-killing-amy-winehouse/454182/39 "2008-06-26T13:25:24Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] I think the distinctions are too many and too great to make the grouping worthwhile. Bartending is generally the legal, long-established, licensed selling of regulated, quality-controlled substances I don’t believe the same can be generally said of illegal drugs and the people producing and selling them. [/quote] But all you’re really saying here is that bartending is legal and selling pot or cocaine is not. Ethically speaking I don’t think that’s a meaningful distinction. > [@](#): > > Who would you be more likely to trust in some generic hypothetical ethical dilemma - a randomly-picked barman or a randomly-picked crack dealer? The barman, but there’s no reason a crack dealer can’t run his business ethically. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unethical-drug-dealers-are-killing-amy-winehouse/454182/40 "2008-06-26T13:47:05Z")
[QUOTE=VarlosZ] But all you’re really saying here is that bartending is legal and selling pot or cocaine is not. Ethically speaking I don’t think that’s a meaningful distinction. [/quote] It’s not _all_ I’m saying - for example, there is something unethical about selling a product that is _not quality-controlled_. > [@](#): > > The barman, but there’s no reason a crack dealer can’t run his business ethically. I’m sure there’s not. My point is that If I heard about drug dealers behaving unethically, it would not be the surprise of the century, for me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unethical-drug-dealers-are-killing-amy-winehouse/454182.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unethical-drug-dealers-are-killing-amy-winehouse/454182.md?page=3)