Fatboy Slim slammed for ecstasy claim

Anti-drug campaigners are criticising Fatboy Slim for saying ecstasy cured him of depression.

He made his comments in an interview with GQ magazine.

Paul Betts, father of Leah, who died after taking the drug on her 18th birthday, described the comments as idiotic.

The DJ and musician said a friend suggested he should try the drug after his busy schedule left him almost at breaking point, the Daily Mail reports.

He said: "I was overtaken by work. I used to try to drink to knock myself out."

He says he was referred to a psychiatrist but that he only beat depression once he'd tried ecstasy.

He told the magazine: "A friend gave it to me one night and I woke up the next day grinning."

Mr Betts said: "When you have an idiot like Cook as an icon to many people, when they get stressed they will think the answers lie in his comments."

Peter Stoker of the National Drug Prevention Alliance says long-term ecstasy use can lead to depression, rather than curing it.