In a Moscow press conference, a Russian official claimed that the Beatles are responsible for a worldwide increase in drug use.
"After the Beatles went to expand their consciousness in Indian ashrams, they introduced that idea - the changing of one's psychic state of mind using drugs - to the population" said Yevgeny Bryun, the Russian Ministry of Health's chief alcohol and drug abuse specialist.
"When business understood that you could trade on that - on pleasure and goods associated with pleasure - that's probably where it all began," he added, noting that measures needed to be taken against such advertisements.
In the past, Paul McCartney admitted that the Fab Four's music was "informed" by the band's drug use.
Beatles music was banned in the former USSR, but Russia's current president, Vladimir Putin, claims to be a fan.
by RTT Staff Writer
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