The world of celebrities with their fame and glamour has always been a source interest to most people.
While some people may learn fashion sense from them, others choose to learn from their mistakes in a darker area. Take the area of drugs. These drugs could be either street drugs or pharmaceutical. We have all seen celebrities fall prey to the severely dangerous drugs of our day. From the traditional drugs of cocaine, marijuana, LSD, mushrooms and heroin, etc. to the newest drugs to enter the scene like Oxycontin, Oxycodone, Hydrocodone, Alprazolam, Diazepam, Temazepam, Doxylamine, Methadone, Barbiturates, Propofol, then over to the Paxil, Prozac, Zoloft, Morphine, etc. The list goes on and on. One can research these drugs and find that they were a contributing cause of death for various celebrities
The drug rehabilitation centers are full of these iconic artists. Somehow, along the way to fame they were looking to solve some sort of a problem or issue. They then turned to drugs as a solution. It might have worked for a short time, but in the end… well you have heard how the story ended for many of them.
Looking at just a couple of recent different cases with Britney Spears, and Lindsay Lohan, we see great careers suddenly turn to random actions and broken lives. They deserved better. What was behind this? In each case they were both found to be habitual users of alcohol and other controlled and uncontrolled substances. They were also either under the care of a mental therapist or psychiatrist who was prescribing various psychiatric medications to them.
Kurt Cobain of Nirvana fame, Elvis Presley, John Belushi, Jimmy Hendricks, Michael Jackson , John Entwistle from the band The Who, Chris Farley, D.J. AM (Adam Goldstein), Janis Joplin, Heath Ledger, Anna Nicole Smith and Marilyn Monroe are just a few of the bigger names to struggle with, and ultimately lose the battle with drugs.
Artists are here to inspire, animate and influence our culture. While I could have given pages of other icons that have had drug abuse problems to make the point, we simply need to learn from their pain, suffering and losses and not pretend that these are simply isolated incidents.
While we all know that street drugs are harmful, I would highly encourage you to do your own research when advised to take medications from Doctors or Physicians. The Internet is a great start. The drug companies are legally obligated to post the side effects. Don’t take them lightly. They are not simply the rare cases. There is a reason why the FDA has ordered the pharmaceutical companies to put the “black-box warning labels” on anti-depressants that make it clear that these drugs can cause violent outbursts and suicidal tendencies in otherwise normal individuals.
So let’s learn from history and write a brighter future!