Recent highly-publicized events surrounding well-known supermodels and public drug usage has confirmed what every fashion insider already knows: cocaine abuse exists in the fashion industry at every level, from the glamorous catwalks to exotic photo shoots.
It is no secret that many models use cocaine. However, this is not necessarily just recreational drug use. It is drug use with end-game in mind – to stay thin, whatever the costs. Essentially they are using narcotics in order to compete within their profession – much like a truck driver might do in order to stay up all night and thereby make more deliveries.
Worse yet, the usage parallels even the performance-enhancing drug usage aspect of professional athletes in scandal-ridden Major League Baseball.
There is enormous pressure within the fashion/modeling industry to stay thin. These pressures then can quite clearly lend themselves to suggesting – or even requiring – participants take a substance well-known for suppressing appetite as a side-effect. In this way, the harmful medical side-effects of a recreational drug are seen as the benefit. This change of focus results then in a somewhat new phenomenon: the eating disorder as a creation of use and drug addiction.
At Cirque Lodge, we treat individuals that are dealing with dual-diagnosis and need the privacy of the mountains and the confidentiality that we are known for worldwide.
The professional staff, both at the Lodge and Studio, working directly with women’s issues has experience with effective drug treatment therapies. We accommodate the individualized needs of those dealing with these deadly addictions allowing for a recovery model that addresses both the primary and secondary disease concurrently.
We understand that the women in image-conscious professions work incredibly hard, and may feel that the drugs they take are requisite for success in the fashion industry. Cirque Lodge addresses the after-care needs of those that will be challenged with cocaine addiction to stay thin or continue their eating disorder behavior long after they stop abusing drugs.
Unfortunately, there are many people who, for the sake of business and image, will stop at nothing to exploit beautiful young women.
Worse still are the connections these young women then have with the everyday women and girls who read the magazines and see the commercials. Cocaine becomes methodology – cocaine becomes a tool.
While models may strut down the catwalk with confidence, some are insecure backstage. Cocaine is yet another device to help control self-doubt and boost self-esteem. Are young women readers any different? Will they not see cocaine as way to improve their own negative self-image? It not only raises their ego by virtue of the narcotic effect, but the resultant weight loss is then viewed as an added bonus. In truth, the lack of sleep and proper nutrition that comes with addiction creates lifelong problems – not to mention the social and financial burden that comes with being an addict.
Time at the top of the fashion industry is not a long one. Many models rely on cocaine to keep weight off in a brutal trade that will not forgive aging or natural weight progression. Understanding this motivation can help us see why younger and younger women are turning to the drug as a weapon against pressure – from peers, from the opposite sex and from the media. The most beautiful women in the world are susceptible to this pressure. It is our mission to understand and counter that pressure to help free all women from its grip.
