BEATLES PRODUCER CHALLENGES INDUSTRY ON DRUGS

LONDON, June 16 (Reuters) - Veteran record producer Sir George Martin, the
man known as the Fifth Beatle, on Tuesday challenged record companies to
boycott artists who take drugs.

Martin, the guru behind most of The Beatles hit records, accused pop stars
and the fashion industry of glamorising drug taking and putting young people
at risk.

``I do hope that people recognise what the problems are and that they will
make it very clear that they will not knowingly, wittingly, use people who
are known to be drug abusers.

``I can hear some record company executives saying `you must be out of your
mind. Do you want to ruin our business?' But they must ask themselves, is it
the future of the youth of this country or their bottom line?,'' Martin told
a conference of British police chiefs.

Martin, 72, criticised Noel Gallagher, the brains behind British rock band
Oasis of portraying drug use as normal.

Gallagher, songwriter in one of Britain's most successful bands of the
1990s, said in a heavily criticised interview last year that taking drugs
was ``like getting out of bed and having a cup of tea in the morning.''

But Martin, who is credited with translating some of the Beatles most
adventurous musical ideas into practice, said he had always been disturbed
by the amount of drug taking in the industry.

Writing in a separate article for the Association of Chief Police Officers
journal this week, he remembered taking a ``very under the weather'' John
Lennon outside to get some fresh air only to realise he had taken LSD.

``They (The Beatles) knew I disapproved. I was a bit like a teacher at
school,'' Martin wrote.

Martin however scotched the widely-held belief that the Beatles song ``Lucy
in the Sky with Diamonds'' was a reference to LSD. He said it was inspired
by a painting by Lennon's son Julian.

Echoing a line in one of Lennon's most famous songs ``Imagine,'' Martin
urged record companies to state publicly that they would not sign drug users.

``I may be a dreamer but where do we start? If I am asked what we can do,
can anybody give me a better idea because I would like to hear it.

``If money is the root of it, if people are saying we will not do this
because it is going to damage our revenue, because it is going to hurt our
industry, then I would like them to say that publicly,'' Martin told the
police conference.

Record companies said they took the issue of drugs seriously but they showed
little immediate sign of responding to Martin's challenge.

``I think record companies do seriously consider those matters because these
are major investments that they are making,'' said John Deacon, director
general of the British Phonographic Industry which represents major record
companies.

``And I think if artists are taking drugs they would obviously very
seriously consider not signing an artist,'' Deacon told BBC television.

Checked-by: Melodi Cornett