How the Surf Industry is Subsidizing Drug Use

While a Well-Established Drug Rehab Clinic Uses Surfing to Espouse Wholesome Living, the Surf Industry Too Often Uses It to Implicitly Endorse Drug Use 

San Diego, Ca (April 01, 2009) -- An Orange County Drug Rehab, Sober Living by the Sea, has found surfing to be a highly effective tool to treat alcoholism, eating disorders, and drug abuse. For almost 25 years, the clinic has treated the illnesses and now places surfing as a cornerstone of its program. Disposing of a large staff of addictions experts and the latest treatment techniques, the well-established clinic contends that it owes its success to showing patients how to have fun by living a wholesome life.

The Rehab’s approach flies on the face of a long-standing culture of drug use in the world of surfing. Too often, and perhaps more often than not, mainstream surf media equates fun with drug use. For instance, a few weeks ago, when commenting on Andy Iron’s alleged drug use in South America, a well-known talk radio host in Southern California said, “the boys were just having fun.” Now when not making such remarks, the media tends simply to look the other way. As Peter Mel, the big wave rider from Santa Cruz, put it on a recent Surfer Magazine article, “No one [in the media] wants to touch it.” But while offhand endorsements and deliberate avoidance characterize the media’s treatment of drug use, an undercurrent of addiction finds its way into the surfing youth.

When combined with the implicit endorsement by surf businesses, the flow toward drug use becomes all the more pressing. Consider the cases of Matt Archbold and Darryl “Flea” Virostko. Both of these iconic surfers were receiving thousands of dollars in endorsements -- Flea, for example, received around $11,000 a month from 2004 to 2008 – while there being plenty of public knowledge about their drug problems. In these two instances, the worst case of capitalism reveals its face, when businesses decide to subsidize drug use to turn a profit on the image of a drug addict. And in addition to the subsidies, these corporate enablers arguably lead droves of youngsters into addiction by lifting the image of fallen heroes. Quite often, the concern with the worst moments of capitalism is focused on the greed of Wall Street and the poor work conditions of sweatshops overseas, but meanwhile the children in our backyards are slowly swept away by the indiscriminate branding of surf companies.

Then finally, there are the contest organizers. While drug tests are required in order to hold basic service jobs – for instance, to work at Starbucks -- becoming a world surfing champion requires no such test. Athletes can rise to the pinnacle of the surfing world, even if incapable of holding a job at a coffee shop due to drug use. And to make it worse, athletes suspected of having drug addiction problems face no special scrutiny before and/or after competitive events. By his own admission, Flea used drugs shortly before one of the Mavericks event, without having much of a reason to fear disqualification as a result. Until contest organizers begin requiring drug screening, drugs will be held alongside trophies and the tide toward addiction will continue to flow upward.

In conclusion, the surf industry’s blatant indifference to drug use has translated into an implicit endorsement of addiction for far too long. When not expressly advancing drug use, the media tends simply to ignore it, as Peter Mel so poignantly put it. Surf companies deliberately hand out sponsorship money, even when knowingly dealing with drug addicts. And contest organizers indiscriminately crown world champions, without much of a concern about whether the athlete would pass a simple drug test. Until these parties decide to take a more active approach toward the problem, far too many surfers will continue to fall to drugs by practicing the very sport that could be their “salvation,” like Sober Living by the Sea has successfully demonstrated.

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