Even Though “Ocean’s Thirteen” Is Total Coke Money It Doesn’t Mean You’re Excused From Completely Ignoring The Salient Moral Messages Of “Traffic”

The rise in cocaine use, as evidenced by many furtive Craig’s List Casual Encounters postings and now exposed for the first time in detail by the crack reporting team at the Sunday Styles section, is directly attributable to the Mayor’s efforts to stigmatize smoking:

But in interviews over the last five months with people in the night-life, entertainment, media and finance industries, all said that cocaine is a prominent part of a night out. Teron Beal, 34, a songwriter and aspiring actor, said he encountered cocaine regularly and does it occasionally — and not only in clubs and bars. “When you’re in meetings and you’re in the studio, it’s offered like coffee,” he said. “If you say yeah, they’re cool with it and if you say no, they’re like O.K., and they just go and do it in front of you.”

“Coke is the new weed,” he continued. “Everybody says that.”

Tom Sykes, a former night-life reporter for The New York Post who chronicled his alcohol- and drug-fueled life in the memoir “What Did I Do Last Night?” said that cocaine is more socially acceptable than smoking. “You could go into a swanky party in New York and do a line and nobody would notice,” said Mr. Sykes, who is now sober. “Pull out a cigarette and people would think you’d pulled out a gun.”

And never mind “Traffic” — these douchebags haven’t even ever seen “Wall Street”:

With Wall Street surging and a 24-hour global economy, young professionals have the money and the incentive to stay constantly wired.

“I do it every day,” said Kristoff, a European transplant to New York who works in finance and would not give his last name. He said he pays $150 for two grams of cocaine. “If I have to work at 6 in the morning and I have to be on top of the game, I’ll do it. I’ll take a gram of coke and make half a million dollars.”

Earlier (I don’t want to point out the obvious and say “much earlier,” but, you know, kind of earlier): Tonight We’re Gonna Party Like It’s 1985, This Just In: Cocaine Sales Remain Strong Through The First Quarter Of 2006.