An Open Letter to Stephen Fry

On Sunday I wrote a piece called High Treason in which I jokingly called for Stephen Fry to be arrested for his historical drug abuse. (many a truth said in jest). It seems like I was not alone in this and so on Wednesday Stephen Fry faced the media. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-29454296

Here is my letter to Stephen Fry questioning his defence. This is less humorous and more serious. 

Dear Stephen,

Firstly let me apologise to you for the tone of my previous post. It read like I didn’t like your work but this is not true. I greatly enjoy QI and your Planet Word was just brilliant. However, I am not sure how you seem to have become responsible for the moral compass of the nation and that’s the point I was trying to make.

It was nice of you to go on Newsnight to deal with my suggestion that you should be arrested. But I think you got the argument horribly wrong. You argued that when taking drugs you were hurting nobody but yourself? If this is true, then to follow your logic we should legalise all drugs immediately, as the addicts are hurting nobody but themselves.

Now I know it can be argued that because drugs are illegal they cause the problems I will outline below. But that is a moot point here because drugs are illegal and were when you took them. 

So let’s return to your argument about not hurting anyone else and just think who else you might have harmed. We know that drug money often funds terrorism and people trafficking. 

We know that people doing the donkey work for the drugs barons are often vulnerable people who are forced into a life of crime. 

We know that many robberies and burglaries are done to fund drug addiction. 

We know that people die in drugs wars including police officers. 

So your crime is not as victimless as you think.

We can also assume that because of your drug habit you were an unreliable employee, maybe not turning up for appointment,  possibly putting people in difficult situations whilst using your power and prestige to do drugs in a myriad of places. I wonder if people felt as uncomfortable around you as they did around a groping DJ, knowing they should report it but scared to do so because of your influence.
I wonder who else you let down during this time, family, friends, fans, lovers? Who did you do harm to Stephen?
You are now using your drug addiction to sell books. For all your contrition you are still glamourising it, sexing it up, boasting about it, normalising it.

Stephen I don’t want you to be arrested, I don’t want you to go back to prison, but I do think you should be less flippant about this and realise your actions had and have repercussions far beyond the harm you did yourself.

Looking forward to the new series of QI on later this week.

Gareth