RIP Cory Monteith

[DanOregon]

There are plenty of drug rehab centers (not enough, but they are available) to non-Hollywood stars, that aren't located in a desirable location, don't have spas etc. But the truth is - that stuff doesn't matter. What matters is the desire of the patient, their ability to stay away from "triggers" be they behaviors or friends and a structured after-treatment program. I'm sure a lot of people wish a spa or an ocean view was all it took to kick drugs.
I've always thought the problem with a drug problem is the "reality" you are trying to "escape" seems that much worse when you come back down. And a lot of people weren't even looking to "escape" when they first tried drugs or alcohol.

 

[Moderator1]

Heroin + alcohol

http://www.tmz.com/2013/07/16/cory-monteith-heroin-alcohol-cause-of-death/

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Heroin + alcohol

http://www.tmz.com/2013/07/16/cory-monteith-heroin-alcohol-cause-of-death/

Always a smart combination.

 

[BNWriter]

Just read the Westboro Baptist buffoons are going to picket Monteith's funeral. (The link from the source I picked out isn't working.)

 

[Alma]

Once it's in your blood you chase it the rest of your life.

I had a great career, 23 years all over the country with awards, raises, titles, a little prestige and yet I threw it away because I couldn't stop chasing the high. Wouldn't stop chasing the high. Oh sure, I worked my 12- 13- 14- 15-hour days -- no one put in more time -- but I also went on 96-hour benders and that's not even the half of it. Surprised I've made it to 41.

Anyway, when I read Monteith died in a hotel room, I knew exactly.

The day the company's top bosses called me to offer me a better title and 5-figure raise I was in the seediest of seedy hotel rooms in Capital City. They called for hours. They called people at the paper who tried calling me. They were ready to put out an APB. Every time they called I let the phone ring out then took a hit. Next day I called and said hey, it was a day off and I was out of reach and deal with it. We set up another phone chat a few days later and those bosses gave me the title and hefty raise.

To celebrate I went on another bender at the same motel. Things only got worse, then I got fired for lying on my timecards to pay for my habit.

So if it makes Hondo feel better I'll recalibrate the original sentiment:

Demons? Nah. I'm just an addict, a junkie, a loser.

Maybe one day I won't be those things.

Congratulations on kicking it. I mean that sincerely.
But I stand by my assertion. The Hollywood and entertainment elite become addicted to whatever, and if they're lucky enough to live, they get oceanside rehab centers, a People cover and the talk-show circuit.

If Montieth had demons before he became wealthy and famous, he might have considered the fact that he later had the means and the money to kick it for good and start enjoying life.

A rehab center, IMO, isn't going to keep you clean off booze and heroin. A process -- 12 steps for some, for others something else -- will. And the entertainment industry eats processes for lunch.

What it takes in entertainment, IMO, is the ability to say no. And not to say no to the drugs. You can say no to that for awhile. But know how and when to say no to a commercial, or a photo shoot, or attending your girlfriend's photo shoot, or an appearance, or appearing at your girlfriend's appearance, or attending a movie premiere, or being the date of someone attending, or a photo op while you're at Starbucks. There's this giant machine around the entertainment that endlessly needs to be fed, assistants and agents and casting directors and tour managers and, always, a boyfriend or girlfriend, that saying no seems hard -- while saying yes seems..fun.

For some -- not all -- part of the disease IS the 15-hour day after day after day. That's the disease, the habit talking. You're earning your reward. The habit's setting the hook of "dessert" into you. You push your mind and body up as high of a mountain as you can, and whoosh! back down.

I'll tell you: I knew a person once who said to me, in sincerity: My addiction is my job. I'm a professional drunk. I'm as good at doing this to my body day after day as you are at anything. It was profoundly sad and even perverse -- and it was true.

 

[Riptide]

For some -- not all -- part of the disease IS the 15-hour day after day after day. That's the disease, the habit talking. You're earning your reward. The habit's setting the hook of "dessert" into you. You push your mind and body up as high of a mountain as you can, and whoosh! back down.

I'll tell you: I knew a person once who said to me, in sincerity: My addiction is my job. I'm a professional drunk. I'm as good at doing this to my body day after day as you are at anything. It was profoundly sad and even perverse -- and it was true.

That's the newspaper life for many of us, too. The mountain. The reward.

 

[Bodie_Broadus]

Robert Downey, Jr., who knows a little something about addiction, once said about addiction "It's like I have a loaded gun in my mouth and I love the taste of metal."

My first serious GF has a sister who has struggled with addiction for years. She had everything one could ask for, she is beautiful, she has a gorgeous daughter, a good job and was part of a huge extended family (all the Native Americans where I grew up have tons of cousins) but she loves coke. She once told me she loved it more than her family and anything else. It made her husband leave but her sister will always stand by. I will to. I keep in touch with her all the time.

 

[NoOneLikesUs]

Opiates are not a Hollywood problem. That's an American problem. There are too many god damned prescription pills out there that lead to the way to heroin.

 

[jr/shotglass]

Sounds kinda creepy.

 

[Beef03]

Heroin and crack are two things I don't understand how the elites get into. I don't understand how someone of wealth and fame sits down one day and says "You know what? I'm going to smoke crack," or "I'm going to shoot up." Just about everything else, from prescription pills to cocaine to LSD, for whatever reason, I can rationalize better, and they have the resources to get their hands on it. But Heroin and crack just baffle the **** out of me. Maybe I'm completely naive, but if there are any drugs I associate with street level bum its those two.

 

[DanOregon]

People get into drugs the same way they think they can drive home from a bar after six drinks.

 

[YankeeFan]

Opiates are not a Hollywood problem. That's an American problem. There are too many god damned prescription pills out there that lead to the way to heroin.

And, what's the gateway drug to opioids like OxyContin and Percocet?

Give yourself a gold star if you guessed marijuana:

The Yale study, which appears online in the Journal of Adolescent Health, showed that alcohol, cigarettes and marijuana were associated with an increased likelihood of prescription drug abuse in men 18 to 25. In women of that age, only marijuana use was linked with a higher likelihood of prescription drug abuse.

For years, researchers have looked at a connection between marijuana and hard drugs, such as cocaine and heroin, said Lynn Fiellin, the study's lead author and an associate professor of medicine at the Yale University School of Medicine. But given the large number of people who abuse prescription drugs -- particularly opioids (or painkillers) such as OxyContin and Percocet -- Fiellin said it seemed worthwhile to examine whether there was a link between marijuana and use of these drugs.

"I don't think the general population has a good idea of how serious the problem is with prescription opioids," Fiellin said. "When they're abused or misused, these are hard drugs."

http://articles.courant.com/2012-08-22/news/hc-yale-marijuana-gateway-0822-20120822_1_prescription-drugs-prescription-opioids-gateway-drug

 

[Captain Obvious]

How do the writers of Glee handle the death? Do they kill Finn off with an overdose, or go with the tried-and-true car accident?

 

[WriteThinking]

People get into drugs the same way they think they can drive home from a bar after six drinks.

Which is how?

There is a real level of stupidity and carelessness needed for that (and this) that is kind of difficult to explain away, or to believe possible among most people -- especially people who already know, to boot, that this is a danger.

I think that was hondo's point, and it's not totally irrelevant.

How and why someone gets into drugs does matter. In fact, I'd say it's of critical importance.

 

[JC]

Opiates are not a Hollywood problem. That's an American problem. There are too many god damned prescription pills out there that lead to the way to heroin.

And, what's the gateway drug to opioids like OxyContin and Percocet?

Give yourself a gold star if you guessed marijuana:

The Yale study, which appears online in the Journal of Adolescent Health, showed that alcohol, cigarettes and marijuana were associated with an increased likelihood of prescription drug abuse in men 18 to 25. In women of that age, only marijuana use was linked with a higher likelihood of prescription drug abuse.

For years, researchers have looked at a connection between marijuana and hard drugs, such as cocaine and heroin, said Lynn Fiellin, the study's lead author and an associate professor of medicine at the Yale University School of Medicine. But given the large number of people who abuse prescription drugs -- particularly opioids (or painkillers) such as OxyContin and Percocet -- Fiellin said it seemed worthwhile to examine whether there was a link between marijuana and use of these drugs.

"I don't think the general population has a good idea of how serious the problem is with prescription opioids," Fiellin said. "When they're abused or misused, these are hard drugs."

http://articles.courant.com/2012-08-22/news/hc-yale-marijuana-gateway-0822-20120822_1_prescription-drugs-prescription-opioids-gateway-drug

And what is the gateway to that, booze.

 

[hondo]

Opiates are not a Hollywood problem. That's an American problem. There are too many god damned prescription pills out there that lead to the way to heroin.

And, what's the gateway drug to opioids like OxyContin and Percocet?

Give yourself a gold star if you guessed marijuana:

The Yale study, which appears online in the Journal of Adolescent Health, showed that alcohol, cigarettes and marijuana were associated with an increased likelihood of prescription drug abuse in men 18 to 25. In women of that age, only marijuana use was linked with a higher likelihood of prescription drug abuse.

For years, researchers have looked at a connection between marijuana and hard drugs, such as cocaine and heroin, said Lynn Fiellin, the study's lead author and an associate professor of medicine at the Yale University School of Medicine. But given the large number of people who abuse prescription drugs -- particularly opioids (or painkillers) such as OxyContin and Percocet -- Fiellin said it seemed worthwhile to examine whether there was a link between marijuana and use of these drugs.

"I don't think the general population has a good idea of how serious the problem is with prescription opioids," Fiellin said. "When they're abused or misused, these are hard drugs."

http://articles.courant.com/2012-08-22/news/hc-yale-marijuana-gateway-0822-20120822_1_prescription-drugs-prescription-opioids-gateway-drug

And what is the gateway to that, booze.

As George Carlin said: "Mother's milk leads to everything."

 

[Bodie_Broadus]

No one will ever convince me that marijuana is a gateway drug. I know far too many people who smoke and have never done anything but smoke.

 

[JC]

You're wrong as well, of course it's a gateway drug, just like alcohol is. Very few coke or heroin addicts didn't start first with alcohol then pot and moved on.

 

[Bodie_Broadus]

You can say it is all you want. I just don't believe it.

I have never thought to myself, "you know what would go great with this weed? A ****ing eight ball."

Usually it's, "you know what would go great with this weed? A big-ass soda and some Doritos."

 

[Dick Whitman]

You can say it is all you want. I just don't believe it.

I have never thought to myself, "you know what would go great with this weed? A ****ing eight ball."

Yes, because that's how it happens.