All but the most gullible observers would conclude that when she lit up a giant cannabis spliff on stage this week, Lady Gaga was, as ever, simply desperate for attention.
-->



Gaga is on the European leg of her "Born This Way Ball" tour, and has been nagging for media exposure for the past couple of weeks.

On Sunday, for instance, Mother Monster went to London Fashion Week in a pink burka, festooned with raccoon tails.

In case anyone was minded to ignore her, she carried a candystriped handbag bearing an outrageously offensive word, picked out in diamante.

Crushingly for her, it barely made the media buzz she wanted.








The previous Friday she flew to New York and threw a £1 million launch party for her new perfume at Macy’s, turning up in a dress shaped like the bottle, complete with a gold mask.

Nobody much paid attention - it made just a few paragraphs on the celebrity websites.

Gaga even posted a picture on Twitter of her and her boyfriend Taylor Kinney embracing nude in a swimming pool last month. It didn’t make the headlines...


For Gaga who loves to shock, nothing could be worse that that...

On stage in an unflattering pair of fishnets from which her posterior bulged alarmingly, at 26 she looked like a woman whose stardom is fading fast. 

And so in the middle of a concert which critics noted was both bland and shrill, she resorted to that old favourite of publicity seekers: smoking pot, or at least appearing to.

When history comes to judge this piece of "bravery", then the fact that she was in Amsterdam, where smoking marijuana is effectively decriminalised, should be taken into consideration.

In the safe environment of Holland, Gaga lit up.

In one deeply cynical gesture, Gaga told her audience that she was in the "appropriate place" to discuss her passion for the drug.

Gaga quoted as saying: "I want you to know it has totally changed my life and I’ve really cut down on drinking. It has been a totally spiritual experience for me."



Gaga even wore a T-shirt with marijuana leaf symbols on it, and joked that she was going to talk to President Obama in a bid to make cannabis legal worldwide. Mother Monster claimed the leaf symbol is the "new peace sign".

The web was buzzing yesterday with reaction to her stunt, most of it asking her to shut up and go away.

And anyone who can declare on stage as she did last week: "Changing the world is as easy as changing your hair," is perhaps not someone worthwhile.

It has to be noted that drugs campaigners believe that Gaga’s intervention is deeply and quite seriously unhelpful.








Lucy Dawes, from the anti-drugs charity Cannabis Skunk Sense quoted as saying: "It’s totally irresponsible. People like Lady Gaga are in a position where, if they run into problems, they can afford to pay for expensive rehab. By endorsing marijuana, she runs the risk of leading thousands of young people into a world of darkness."

Gaga has recently admitted that she conquered an addiction to cocaine before she found fame.

Her dad Joe helped to shock her out of her cocaine dependency. Gaga told an interviewer: "My dad was like: "I know what you’re doing, and just so you know, I did it and I lost every friend and everything that I ever had while I did it."He shared with me his life story and his struggle, so that was what ultimately changed my life."

The question is: Why is Gaga happy to proselytise about cannabis now?

It seems that Gaga is now struggling to stay relevant. The time will tell if she is "reductive" as Madonna called her. What do you think?

Feel free to comment and share this blog post if you find it interesting!