« Skaters and Drugs Outtakes: Chad Muska »
Monday, June 10, 2013 at 11:14AM More outtakes/bonus text from Skateboarder Magazine, February ’03. After Jay Adams last week—this is the full text from Chad Muska’s interview on drug use in skateboarding. We had this conversation in our old office on Wilshire and Chad was pacing around my cubicle the whole time he was talking. Even though it's from ten years back, plenty of things are spot on for skating today. Legend.
CHAD MUSKA:
“Its just way more hidden in other sports. There is probably a similar amount of people using drugs in all sports. But it’s just a matter of the exposure. In skateboarding, its not to the level where like you get drug tested, test positive for marijuana and get suspended for a year.”
“I don’t glorify drugs. I could say certain drugs are better then others. But, at the end of the day, every drug has a negative side. Something like smoking weed, for me personally doesn’t present like a major problem. Although, I will say, there are people out there who can smoke weed and end up sitting around, doing nothing with their lives just like there are people who can blaze and be totally productive.”
“As long as you are weighing the consequences and know where you’re at in your life, most people can lead normal lives while smoking weed.”
“Whatever your involved with, be it something artistic, music, or even a stockbroker down on Wall Street, you can be sure that all of them are getting their party on in some form or another. But with skateboarding, there’s been at time like a general consensus where people decide not to hide it.”
“You have groups of kids glorifying it, which I think is wrong personally. When I was younger, I didn’t really think about it. But, I’m 25 years old now and I know that what I do affects what kids do. So I do my best as a role model and try not to glorify negative things. I might not always be perfect, but I’m not going to go out of my way to promote drugs or whatever.”
“At the end of the day though, role models or no role models, people are gonna do what their gonna do. Even if every single pro skater on earth was clean, there would still be kids doing drugs. But at the same time, if you’re part of the reason for them doing it, then it’s still wrong. I’m gonna do what I’m gonna do. I’m not a perfect role model, but I’ll do my best not to promote negative things to kids.”
“I smoke weed. I don’t do coke. I don’t do any of that other stuff. I’ve been through it. I’ve had more then enough of my share of every drug imaginable.”
“I want to send a message to all the pros out there that are trying to glorify drugs or drinking or whatever. You better think about what you’re doing because your affecting a lot of other people’s lives with your own decisions. When I was coming up, I did the same shit. I didn’t care. I was smoking weed in front of everybody, drinking at every contest. But when you realize that you’re affecting all these other people’s lives, it kind of makes you think a little more about what you do and what you say.”
“I think it’s more of a problem with society at large rather then with skateboarding specifically. Something like coke gets downplayed to the point were it’s not a big deal. But it is a big deal. People need to know how dangerous that shit is.”
“The media had never gotten skateboarding right. They still haven’t come close. So whatever they depict skateboarders as, be it drug users or whatever, shouldn’t even be taken into consideration.”
“You got politicians that sniff coke and go to work on a daily basis. Basketball players, musicians, artists, skateboarders—it’s the same in every field. You got dudes that do drugs and others that don’t.”
“Skateboarding is free. The more popular it gets, the more attention its gonna get. The more attention it gets, the more kids its gonna affect out there. And the more it affects kids out there, the more parents are gonna go, ‘Hey, my kid follows what these guys are doing, so why are they doing this and why are they doing that?’”
“Skaters are no longer in control of where skateboarding is going.”
“It all comes down to the parents. If you raise your kids correctly, and teach them right from wrong, then no matter what’s presented to them, be it images, lifestyles, or drugs, they’re ultimately going to know about it beforehand and make the right decision.”
“I’ve had too many friends loose out—loose out in their careers, loose out in their lives, just loose everything to drugs or even straight up die. Everybody can tell you, especially people that have been fucked up by them that nothing good comes out of it. I’ve seen to many good people go down.”
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