BLUR - JAMES REGRETS COCAINE BINGES AFTER COLOMBIAN TRIP

Former BLUR star ALEX JAMES regrets experimenting with cocaine in the band's hey day following a visit to Colombia - branding drugs a "relentless trail of death". The bassist - who confessed in his autobiography to spending "$2 million (GBP1 million) on champagne and cocaine" - travelled to South America to film a documentary about the drugs trade. And James - who has since stopped using the drug - was shocked by the effects of cocaine trafficking. He says, "The cash generated by coke basically has been funding a civil war that's been raging for decades. "It's seen as a victimless crime I suppose, taking drugs, but if you follow the trail of dots back to Colombia it's pretty horrible. "(If a) person starts consuming coke, all that money comes here to finance landmines, destruction of the environment, terrorism, kidnapping, displacement." He adds, "It's a relentless trail of death, it's just not stopping and it did start to wear me down. It's a long way from a cheeky line at a dinner party in Notting Hill. It's terrifying."