Joan Smith: Pete Doherty is not a child
The IndependentThe best of Voices delivered to your inbox every week - from controversial columns to expert analysis Sign up for our free weekly Voices newsletter for expert opinion and columns Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy I suppose it's one way of seeing whether short prison sentences work: the singer Pete Doherty was released on Wednesday after serving less than two months of a six-month sentence for possession of cocaine. Doherty has been arrested many times for drug and driving offences, and he could face another prison sentence after allegedly breaking into a record shop in Germany in March. It wasn't the first unnatural death to have taken place in Doherty's circle; an actor called Mark Blanco fell from a balcony at a flat in East London in 2006 shortly after a confrontation with Doherty. But there's a tendency to treat stars such as Doherty, 31, and Winehouse, 27, as wayward children, instead of adults with extremely serious and possibly life-threatening addictions.
History of this topic
Pete Doherty recalls sitting outside gig while fans ‘tore the place apart’
The Independent
Libertines hellraiser Pete Doherty turned back on rock 'n' roll excess and tragedy and now hardest struggle is beating cheese addiction and diabetes
Daily Mail
Pete Doherty misses drugs charge court date
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