Not All Musicians Are Addicted to Drugs

While one must applaud the work Buddy Arnold is doing, the article (“Buddy’s New Gig: Erasing the Connection Between Music and Addiction,” Jan. 5) was one-sided and presents a needlessly bleak and inaccurate picture.

I have been a professional musician since 1965. On a typical day, I arise at 6 a.m., eat a nutritious breakfast (the most important meal of the day), exercise vigorously for 40 minutes to 45 minutes, attend to personal hygiene concerns and drive my four-door sedan to one of L.A.’s many fine recording studios, where I work for seven hours (including a one-hour lunch break spent at a health-food restaurant). Evenings are spent preparing for work the next day. I have neither time for nor an interest in drugs. My experience is, I believe, typical of that of most of the several hundred other freelance musicians with whom I work on a regular basis, possibly excepting the nutritious breakfast/vigorous exercise part of the routine.

In 1965, I called my insurance agent to tell him I would no longer be giving music lessons but was working full time as a musician. Shortly thereafter, my car insurance went from approximately $200 a year to nearly $1,000. When I asked for an explanation, he showed me a pamphlet put out by the insurance companies that described “high-risk” workers. Among them were “musicians,” “wrestlers” and “people with illegal occupations.” Articles such as yours perpetuate a stereotype in which a small minority is presented as typical.

DAVID M. SHERR

Santa Monica