Relapse and Addiction in the news

Lots of addiction and drug use in the news as of late: of course the biggest story was Michael Jackson; his death, and the long history of addiction, will rival Elvis's in history I imagine. And if it doesn't, then we should make sure we as a people and a media are looking at it honestly. That, of course, was a huge splash and brought about a new wave of awareness about prescription pain medication.

A couple of months ago, the "Shamwow guy," Vince Shlomi, was arrested for being in a drunk fight with a hooker. And this past Friday, news about Billy Mays (pictured above) and a history of cocaine use breaks across the wire. Then over the weekend, Josh Hamilton, a darling of the media for his miraculous comeback from drug addiction (see a great article on his comeback from ESPN the Magazine here and I mentioned his comeback in my blog earlier this year), had pictures posted on Deadspin.com, a sports media blog, of an obvious relapse during spring training in January.

A couple of thoughts here: first and foremost, it's hard to be in the public eye. We've seen tortured artists, athletes, and successful people for centuries-- some of the most powerful people in the world have been the most troubled (see Howard Hughes, Elvis, Michael Jackson, etc. etc.). The list goes on and on. And when people who have any sort of issue- a drug problem, depression, anger management issues and the like- get into the public eye, the odds of a slip being exposed to the media are increased tenfold. For someone like Mays, whose persona was one of an over-the-top pitchman for various products on late night television, cocaine seems like a natural fit. For Hamilton, who had completely lost everything and built it back up, a relapse (for someone not as popular) may have been a tiny setback. However, in Hamilton's case, his entire season is being scrutinized for evidence of drinking or drug use, and whether or not his lack of performance this season is tied into that.

As we know, addiction is a chronic and fatal disease, as we've seen with Jackson and Mays. What we also need to remember is that sometimes people slip, like Hamilton did in January. Instead of making snarky remarks and making life more difficult, we as a group need to support Hamilton and his recovery. One can only hope that the Rangers will allow him time to find his way back to a recovery program-- and that Hamilton will make that decision as well.

Here's a video of the Josh Hamilton story, previous to his last relapse:


Hope: The Josh Hamilton Story - More amazing video clips are a click away

Here's a clip of Hamilton talking about his relapse:



Blitzcorner | Josh Hamilton Speaks about Relapse Video



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Michael Jackson and his pill problem- more is revealed

Not shocking- it turns out that Michael Jackson's pill problem was more serious than we all thought. As I talked about in a previous blog post, Jackson had some major problems dealing with a childhood filled with trauma, the fame he was dealt, and all of his familial and personal issues which eventually lead to his too-early demise. Now CNN is reporting that Jackson, in 2004, was taking more than 10 Xanax a night. He also had his security guards picking up prescriptions in their own names for him, as well as prescriptions from doctors as far away as New York.

The amount of Xanax that Jackson alleged took surprised CNN chief medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta.In addiction cases, people develop a tolerance to drugs and have to take more and more pills, Gupta said. "No matter how you cut it, this is an extremely high dosage of Xanax," Gupta said. "It is a huge red flag, even with the tolerance that I was talking about. This dosage is exceedingly high for any human being."

According to the website AboveTheInfluence.com, who cite a number of reliable resources and studies, said this: Taking prescription drugs without a prescription, not taking them as directed, or mixing them with alcohol are all unsafe and potentially deadly. A 2008 study based on 224,355 U.S. death certificates for which people died from medication errors showed that there was a 3,196 percent increase between 1983 and 2004 in deaths at home from combining prescription drugs with alcohol and/or street drugs.

In 2006, Jackson was trying to jumpstart his career with a series of concerts in Las Vegas. According to Jack Wishna, a promoter who was helping Jackson secure the series of concerts in Vegas, Jackson had to pull out of the concerts due to his weakened condition. According to Wishna, Jackson appeared emaciated and incoherent, and often had to use a wheelchair to get around.

According to other sources, around this time Janet Jackson was planning an intervention for Michael. According to the report, Janet recruited her brothers to help stage the intervention, however Michael told his bodyguards to prevent his family from entering his property and refused to accept phone calls from his mother Katherine, CNN reports.

This becomes a difficult situation- what happens when someone has procured so much power that they seem to be untouchable? Why didn't the security guards step in? They must have known there was a problem- the guards couldn't have thought his pill consumption was normal, especially since they were filling prescriptions in their own names for him. Were they blinded by loyalty to Jackson? Or money? It's hard to believe that no one ever stepped in- people had to know something was wrong. Perhaps with a family intervention and treatment, Jackson would've had a chance to get better. The world will never know.


Here's Sanjay Gupta from CNN talking about Jackson's death:



And here's Dr. Gupta talking about Michael Jackson's final rehearsal:



Here's a breakdown of recent statistics on pill abuse:



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Methadone: A blessing or a curse?

Methadone maintenance has been around for years- it's development stemmed from predictions in Nazi Germany that the war would cause shortages in opiates being able to cross into Germany's borders. In 1947 Eli Lilly's company started producing methadone stateside, and off we went. The drug was first published as a pain reliever, and now is mostly used in harm reduction around addiction.

I'm torn on the effectiveness of this methodology. What I've heard in anecdotes from members of 12-step programs is that their lives only really started to get better once they were able to detox off of the methadone, which creates a physical dependence of it's own. What is difficult to discern is that most of the people I've spoken with bout this have had resources for private addiction treatment- for those without resources, methadone seems to be a good start.

Methadone can be a start towards a path to a new life; however, it is not the be-all, end-all solution. Without therapy, a recovery program, and a plan to eventually remove oneself from a mind-altering substance, the chances of someone really recovering from addiction are slim. When planned correctly, methadone can be an important component in helping an individual get better.

The problem is in the profits- methadone maintenance is one of the most profitable businesses today, and I worry that clinics don't attempt to taper people off solely to make their numbers work on the bottom line. We need to respect the quality of life of our patients, and the easiest way to do this is to make a long term plan when someone begins a methadone maintenance plan. With all of the tools and resources available to us, we can put a plan together that allows methadone to be an active part of recovery.

Here's a link to the HBO special "Methadonia," a documentary regarding people who are hooked on methadone: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mULJZzq4-cQ


And here's a video on methadone and the consequences of not managing it correctly:



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