The Canyon

The trips that Lindsay Lohan has taken to “rest” at drug rehab or the idea that she might potentially return to drug addiction treatment is the subject of more than a few tabloid covers. Recently, the big story on Lindsay and drug addiction has had more to do with her father, Michael Lohan, and a handful of phone messages left for him by Lindsay herself and by Lindsay’s mother, Dina, all discussing Lindsay’s issues with drug abuse and addiction and her need for drug addiction help.

The word “exploitation” leaps to mind, as “Access Hollywood: reports that Michael Lohan, in an attempt to shop around a reality show, has leaked the taped messages left by his ex-wife and daughter. In an unprecedented show of restraint, the tabloid show refused to play the tapes on the air, but Access Hollywood reporter Billy Bush reported that he had listened to them and ‘it was clear Lindsay was troubled.’

For his part, Lindsay’s father describes this decision to go public with the tapes as an effort to help his daughter. He says: “I’ve been doing what I’m doing against everyone’s will and getting slammed for it, but you hear here what’s going on. … You can see why I’m so concerned, I’m literally shaking right now and I can’t do it anymore.

“First, I tried to do it the right way … privately. I tried to deal with Lindsay.”

Later, he said: “I admit, I’m being a bit selfish in releasing the tapes, but I’m tired of being lied about. I’m tired of Dina and others making me out to be someone I’m not, so now I’m going to prove to the world who the real liars are.”

Included among the calls was a message left by Lindsay after her house was broken into this past summer described as ‘hysterical’ and another message after a call made from her stay in a Utah drug rehab last year begging her father to help her get out of counseling.

There was also a message left by his ex-wife, Lindsay’s mother, Dina, that reveals her upset over being unable to get Lindsay into rehab in the fall of last year. This message was posted on RadarOnline.com and Dina tells her ex: “You don’t even know what I’d go through trying to get her into, like, rehab and stuff. She’d, like, punch me in the face, kick me out of the car. … You don’t know the [bleep] I went through trying to get her an intervention by myself. It was very difficult.

“She’s really sad and really hurt and really … despondent.”

Dina apparently also has expressed concern that Lindsay will end up overdosing like Heath Ledger last year. Michael Lohan recently released yet another tape of Dina talking about Lindsay’s drug addiction and her relationship with Heath, saying that Lindsay “was dating Heath when he died . . . I don’t know if you know that, but I know cause I would drop her off and they were friends, very, very close.”

Her ultimate concern is that, “when she’s drunk or takes an Adderall with it she will do something like Heath Ledger did in a second without thinking.”

Lindsay’s response? Get the lawyers involved. There are considerations of legal action against her father for his decision to leak the tapes.

Perhaps most well-known for this three big wins at Mavericks, Darryl “Flea” Virostko, 37, often flirts with death as a part of his daily surfing routine. In fact, a near-drowning experience at Waimea Bay in Hawaii a few years ago was called the “Wipeout of the Decade” by Surfer magazine. The thing that really scares him, though? Crystal meth addiction.

Drug Addiction and Surfing

For the last 14 months, Flea has been clean and sober, but before he entered a Pacific Grove drug and alcohol rehab center last year, his friends and family didn’t think he would be alive much longer. Says Virostko about his behavior before treatment: “I didn’t care about my life at all. I wasn’t being Flea.”

The first time that Flea went to Mavericks, he says he was on acid. He took a few of his other trips to the contest on crystal meth. The drugs, however, did not enhance his performance; they took away from it. He was fearless in spite the drugs, not because of them, he says.

Despite his three wins and the big checks that came along with it including $12,000 a month from sponsors and $50,000 checks for each Mavericks win, drug addiction almost bankrupted Flea as well. He had to sell his house recently to pay off back taxes and avoid bankruptcy.

Because he grew up without money, Flea says, he went overboard when he started getting paid for surfing. His sponsors billed him as a rock star and he had no problem filling the bill, with all the drugs and the furniture-destroying parties.

The Descent of a Surfer

Drugs and alcohol are commonly found at the beach parties that routinely follow a day in the surf. It’s not hard for surfers to end up dealing with a drug addiction as a result, especially as they begin to get older and get surpassed by younger athletes.

Flea reports that in early 2007, after his uncle passed away, he began to lose control of the situation. His drug use increased until February of 2008 when he passed out while high and climbing a cliff. The resulting injury took him out of surfing for awhile, and the time off only contributed to his drug addiction. By August, his father had set up an intervention for him, and Flea was soon off to drug rehab.

A Future After Drug Addiction

Today, Flea has 14 months of sobriety under his belt and he continues to surf avidly. He teaches drug addicts and alcoholics how to surf at his FleaHab program and is currently training to become a drug and alcohol addiction treatment counselor. Flea has picked up sponsors again and is still surfing professionally.

As for Mavericks, the last time Flea won was 2004; the Mavericks five-month window opens on November 1 of this year, and he’ll be there, hoping to win a fourth time.

Says Flea: “If I can do it, anyone can do it. Because I went to the edge of the earth.”

Someone in your family is using drugs – you just confirmed this, though you’ve been concerned for a long time. It doesn’t seem like they are making any change. How do you talk them into stopping their drug use and getting drug treatment?

Drug Addict Wont Listen If They Dont Want To

Cant Force Person To Learn From Drug Rehab

You need to know a few things about drug addiction to understand the answer to this question. First, the very most frustrating part is that you cannot force a person to truly get better. Only they have that power. You can say all kinds of things to them. But if they haven’t yet experienced enough deep pain from their drug addiction, your words won’t find a crack in their defensiveness to crawl through. They will fall on ears that don’t want to hear.

There are ways to declare a person incompetent, they might be in legal trouble, they may have to answer to a mental health board. They may attend an entire course of legally required drug treatment and say a lot of the right things. But here’s the important part. No matter how stringent the authority and accountability, the person must be ready to hear the message for them to truly begin recovery.

Arguing With Drug Addict About Drug Rehab Doesnt Work

Until they are ready to hear the full meaning in your words of advice and caution, you will probably feel like you are beating your head against a wall. Arguing won’t do any good here because an unready drug addicted mind has plenty of ammunition to shoot back at you. They have excuses, addiction thinking that convolutes their logic, a sense of self-centered survival, blame, plenty of emotional pain, and possibly a few legitimate gripes about life. They are more comfortable being where they are than turning from their addiction and seeking drug treatment.

The best course of action is to seek professional help of some kind. Speak to a therapist who does interventions. Ask questions about drug rehab and outpatient drug treatment. Get some help and support for yourself if you have lived with this situation closely (Alanon or possibly counseling). Do what you can to involve your drug addicted loved one, but understand that your influence has a limit.

Get Support For You Even If They Skip Drug Rehab

You cannot control them like a robot, you can only show them the big picture and the choices. And even at that, they may not want to hear or see any of it, much less take a step toward drug treatment. That’s perhaps the most important reason to seek support for yourself. If your efforts don’t get your loved one moving forward, you may need help dealing with your feelings and how to handle the situation.

Tennis star Andre Agassi recently wrote an autobiography, Open, and in it he details some inside info on his tennis career, his hair piece and his marriages, but the biggest item of interest to most is his confession: during the late 1990s, Agassi abused crystal meth. Agassi told People magazine: “I can’t speak to addiction, but a lot of people would say that if you’re using anything as an escape, you have a problem.”

Crystal Meth Abuse: Access and a Need for Speed

According to ESPN and the Associated Press, the first person to introduce Agassi to crystal meth was the owner of the fictional spiked drink, his assistant, Slim. Agassi described the first time he used the drug as a casual one: Slim simply put some on the coffee table in front of him.

Agassi writes: “I snort some. I ease back on the couch and consider the Rubicon I’ve just crossed. There is a moment of regret, followed by vast sadness. Then comes a tidal wave of euphoria that sweeps away every negative thought in my head. I’ve never felt so alive, so hopeful — and I’ve never felt such energy.

“I’m seized by a desperate desire to clean. I go tearing around my house, cleaning it from top to bottom. I dust the furniture. I scour the tub. I make the beds.”

Failed Drug Tests and Professional Lies Due to Crystal Meth

Tennis professionals, like professionals in any sport, are subject to random drug tests. Agassi underwent more than a few in his life time and one of them, he failed. He got the result thrown out by writing a letter to the ATP and lying by saying that he inadvertently drank from a crystal meth spiked cup of soda that belonged to his assistant.

Writing about the incident, Agassi says: “Then I come to the central lie of the letter. I say that recently I drank accidentally from one of Slim’s spiked sodas, unwittingly ingesting his drugs. I ask for understanding and leniency and hastily sign it: Sincerely.

Failing the drug test convinced Agassi that he needed to get back on track. His performance on the court had suffered due to his crystal meth abuse and now, with a potential Class 2 (or recreational drug) violation pending, he could be looking at a three-month suspension.

Agassi writes: “I feel ashamed, of course. I promise myself that this lie is the end of it.”

Fear Of Admitting Crystal Meth Addiction

It’s never easy to admit that you have a problem, even if you no longer do and if that problem took place more than a decade earlier. When asked if he was worried about how the public would respond to his crystal meth confession, he answered: “I was worried for a moment, but not for long. … I wore my heart on my sleeve and my emotions were always written on my face. I was actually excited about telling the world the whole story.”

If you or someone you love is struggling with crystal meth addiction, you can get help through a crystal meth rehab. Call today.

Anna Nicole Smith died on February 8, 2007 after a drug overdose described by court papers as “acute combined drug intoxication” involving a “toxic amount of chloral hydrate” combined with four other prescription drugs.

Almost three years later, three people are still dealing with the consequences of that loss in a very real way: Howard K. Stern, 40, her longtime companion and attorney, who is being charged with 11 felony counts that include “prescribing, administering or dispensing a controlled substance to an addict, obtaining a prescription for opiates by deceit, fraud or misrepresentation and conspiracy to commit a crime;” and two of her doctors, Dr. Khristine Eroshevich, 61, and Dr. Sandeep Kapoor, 41, who are each being charged with “six felony counts, including unlawfully prescribing a controlled substance, prescribing, administering or dispensing a controlled substance to an addict and conspiracy to commit a crime,” according to the Daily News Wire Services.

The Case Against Doctoral Prescriptions

It’s not that anyone believes that Anna Nicole did not perhaps need medication of some sort. The issue is that the doctors did not recognize that the amount and types of pills she was taking amounted to drug addiction, and that, if they did, they did not take appropriate action as they are legally bound to do. Testimony recently has been to the effect that the doctors in question not only could not have missed that drug addiction was an issue for Anna Nicole but continued to give her more addictive medications despite that fact.

Letters to her doctors were produced dated prior to Anna Nicole’s death in which a pharmacist refused to fill the prescriptions stating that it would be “pharmaceutical suicide.”

The expert witness testified that it would have been clear to Anna Nicole’s doctors that “the patient had addiction problems.”

Drug Addiction: A Family Issue

Not only did Anna Nicole Smith suffer from drug addiction, but so did other members of her family. Her son, Daniel, died days before her, also of a drug overdose. The genetic predisposition to drug addiction notwithstanding, it appears that the access to drugs is the larger question at this point as well as the responsibility of her prescribing physicians to recognize the situation for what it was and stop it before it ended in drug overdose. It seems clear that if Anna Nicole had so many drugs in her possession, that her son would have easy access to her prescriptions, an issue which ultimately resulted in his death.

It’s a common problem in America: prescription drug addiction among teenagers due to the higher number of prescriptions in general that are kept in family medicine cabinets. Kids find leftover pills in their parents’ possession and take them, either keeping them for themselves or sharing them with friends. There are a number of cases pending across the country right now in which children have died due to drug overdose and the friends who gave them the deadly drugs are now on trial.

Prescription Drug Addiction Help

If you or someone you love is struggling with prescription drug addiction, don’t wait to get the help you need. Call a prescription drug rehab today.

Having kids means you’ve signed on for a pretty large obligation. That may sound obvious, but a child’s needs don’t stop just because their parent is having problems. When a parent drinks heavily or gets high on drugs, their child looks for someone to take care of them. Take a look at the two examples below to see what I’m talking about.

Kids Search During Your Drug Addiction

Looking for Love When Parent Is Addicted

Imagine yourself getting high for several hours and crashing at some odd hour of the day. Your daughter seems to find you passed out or with a headache most of the time. She just wishes she had a dad who looked out for her. She starts hanging out with an older boy who drives her around town and lets her cry on his shoulder.

Like many teen girls, she easily confuses sexual affection for real love. She has filled the empty hole in her heart with something that makes her feel better. It isn’t what she needs, but it’s what she can get.

Kids Escape With Drugs And Alcohol Too

Your son has lots of questions about life. His friends are fickle sometimes, he gets stumped by his math homework, and he feels uncomfortable about his looks. He just wants to know he’s OK and feel better when he gets stuck in a bad mood. But you rarely come out of your room in the evenings. You drink all night and watch TV most of the time. Other times you feel pretty sick and go to bed early.

He feels like no one understands him except a group of kids who get together on weekends and drink. They don’t have very happy homes either, so they commiserate with each other as they drink their bad feelings away. He wants a parent he can count on, but for now, he can count on his friends and their drinking to get him through.

Drug Rehab Can Put You Back In Active Parent Role

Drug rehab isn’t going to fix the fallout from a long parental absence. There are some things you just can’t turn around very easily. But kids value having a parent in their life regardless of their age. Any steps you take towards sobriety will help your chances of being a positive loving influence in their life. You can encourage your kids to attend a support group for family members of a drug addict or alcoholic. They’ll meet other kids who understand what they’re going through.

No matter what you are going through with your drug addiction, your kids will need to turn to someone. Go to drug treatment or alcohol rehab, get sober, and let that be you.

If ever there was an argument for genetic predisposition for drug addiction, it’s the Osbourne kids, Kelly and Jack. Between the celebrity from their reality TV show and being spawned by the Prince of Darkness, they didn’t have much of a shot, did they?

And in true celebrity fashion, the kids fell victim to the addiction that comes in little child safety locked bottles: prescription drug addiction.

What The Parents Have to Say

Sharon and Ozzy may not run their home like you do, but there is no shortage of love in their family, and when they recognized what Kelly was going through, the pair confronted her in April of 2004. She readily agreed to a stint in the upscale Promises treatment center in Malibu, California.

Sharon told Larry on CNN’s Larry King Live: “She didn’t put up a fight. It happened so quickly, she didn’t have time. It was so much of a shock she said, ‘I’ll go.’”

Ozzy is under no illusions when it comes to drug addiction and the likelihood that his kids will struggle with it. He, too, has been in recovery for decades. He told Larry in that same interview: “It’s a family illness. It’s in the genes. In this day and age, the availability of getting drugs is amazing.”

Like Brother, Like Sister

Kelly’s stay in Promises came about a year after big brother Jack checked himself into Las Encinas Hospital in Pasadena, California. His drug of choice? OxyContin.

Jack took the time he spent in treatment seriously. In July of 2003, he told MTV News:

“I took myself out of the picture for a second and I looked around at every single person in the room, at who they were, how old they were and what they had going on in their lives. A lot of them were near 30, unemployed, living off their parents. There were heroin addicts, there were the world’s biggest couch potatoes. And it was like, ‘I don’t want to be like that. I don’t want my life to be controlled by a drug.’”

And hey, if the Spawn of Darkness can get and stay clean, who among us can’t?

With recent reports that her amassed fortune is quickly dwindling due to her drug and alcohol addiction combined with poor accounting, Amy Winehouse has been making headlines for years for her behavior under the influences. Pictures of her wandering the streets in the middle of the night barely clothed and clearly out of her mind, YouTube videos of her smoking crack or onstage snorting coke, tabloid headlines documenting her relationship with her oft-jailed husband… it’s no secret that Amy Winehouse has a problem with drugs and alcohol.

Amy Winehouse: Drug of Choice

She’s been seen with a crack pipe in hand, track marks on her arms and snorting cocaine on stage. It seems that Amy is an equal opportunity drug addict, but for anyone shooting heroin, clearly heroin is the wife and all the other drugs are mere mistresses. Heroin rehab is especially crucial for Amy if this is the case as opiate detox can be devastating without medical supervision and support. An inpatient heroin detox followed by heroin addiction treatment would be a good choice for Amy if heroin addiction is still a problem, followed by sober living and a sober companion to help her stay on track.

Amy Winehouse and Drug Rehab

The Focus 12 Clinic in Suffolk, located a mere 15 miles from Highpoint Prison where Blake Fielder-Civil, her husband, is doing time for “grievous bodily harm and perverting the course of justice,” was Amy’s drug rehab destination last year. She was reportedly looking for a house in Suffolk as well so that she could be close to her husband. Codependency be damned. Drug addiction treatment is a great start.

Apparently, Focus 12 Clinic was recommended to Amy by Russell Brand, a comedian who received treatment for his heroin addiction at the rehab center back in 2002. It’s been said that Brand put in a call to Chief Executive of Focus 12 Chip Somers to help Amy get a spot, and it worked; she checked in last year.

Amy’s father, Mitch, was supportive both of his daughter’s decision to enter into drug treatment but also to remain near her husband. He says, “This is a very good idea. If she can get clean and still see Blake it can only be good.”

Unfortunately, if recent reports are true, drug rehab didn’t quite stick. Whether or not she remained sober for a period of time or has curtailed her drug and alcohol use is a matter of conjecture, but it seems clear that she is still struggling with drug and alcohol addiction.

Celebrity Drug Addiction: Encourages or Discourages Drug Abuse?

You go on YouTube and find videos of celebrities like Amy Winehouse behaving badly under the influence of drugs. You watch entertainment television shows and see Lindsay Lohan drunkenly stumbling and stuttering. Then you see the early deaths of celebs like Heath Ledger and Anna Nicole and Michael Jackson due to drug overdose.

Do you think this bad behavior comes off as “cool” to those who are experimenting or considering experimenting with drugs and alcohol? Or does the wrecked spectacle they create discourage people from following in their footsteps?

Drug addiction is such a rocky road. It can damage so many aspects of your life, including something you may have taken for granted – your job. Even people who have gone through drug rehab and managed a good recovery for a few years still have challenges.

Job Hunt Challenging For Recovering Drug Addicts

Negative Stigma Difficult For People In Drug Addiction Recovery

Advocates for recovering drug addicts do their best to keep this issue out in the open. They continue to fight the negative stigma that comes naturally with something as serious as drug addiction. It’s not the same thing as recovering from cancer and keeping your job while you are in treatment. Drug addiction turns your mind inside out and can damage your reputation for a long time.

Getting a job after being in drug rehab can be dicey. You have greatly improved your honesty and directness through your recovery, yet you are understandably hesitant to admit you’ve been to drug rehab. Employers often don’t want to take a risk on someone who has such a history. Taking on a new employee takes time, energy, and can be less productive for a while. The current economy doesn’t help. Business already take on plenty of risk just surviving.

Dont Get Disappointed By Trouble Getting A Job

Going through drug rehab and staying sober can bring new hope to a recovering drug addict. But that doesn’t mean the tough road has been made smooth. Getting rejected by employers can feel like a real punch in the gut. It’s a time when discouragement can set in easily.

It’s not time to give up, though. Perhaps you need more support during the early stages of your drug addiction recovery. A sober house or halfway house can be a good in between place. They offer some structure and encourage employment. Also, you may need to consider getting a different type of job than you may have had before drug rehab.

Career Path Might Be Different After Drug Rehab

Of course, look for jobs that you strongly qualify for. However, you may need to be willing to take jobs with fewer expectations if you have trouble finding something at first. Be willing to consider part-time employment to get the ball rolling. Better to have just an OK job rather than no job at all. Once you establish a good history with an employer, you may feel ready to take on something more challenging. And remember, the longer you are in recovery, the better your chances of sticking with it without relapse. Your reputation can stand on its own merit and you are more likely to keep it positive.

As you can see, going to drug rehab is such a small part of the picture. However, it can start the ship sailing in the right direction again. And if you do relapse, even after you have gotten a job, drug rehab can still be an opportunity for growth. You will likely discover important things about your addiction that can help you do even better the next time.

Your addiction is probably bigger than you realize. You may think it is just about you and your suffering. But if you are in a committed relationship, you have much more at stake. Drug treatment or alcohol rehab can help you get through this chaos and get back on track. But sometimes it takes a lot to get a drug addicted person to drug rehab. I’ll give you an idea of what it’s like on the other side of a marriage with a drug addiction.

Drug Addiction Damages Your Spouse

Drug Addiction Prevents You From Being A Competent Life Partner

Your spouse married you to have a competent partner. When you are addicted to drugs or alcohol, you don’t hold up your end of the bargain. You can’t when you are stoned or drunk. Your addiction keeps you like a kid who doesn’t want to have parents hovering over them. You don’t want to give much if anything because it’s all about feeding your addiction and coping with your emotions. Your spouse doesn’t get to have a competent adult as a life partner.

Drug Addiction Prevents You From Being A Good Companion

Your spouse married you to have a companion in life. Your spouse picked you to be the most important special person in their life. Drug and alcohol addiction strips you of your ability to be loving to your spouse. You addiction keeps you focused completely on yourself and your own needs. Your addiction thinking says that you aren’t doing anything wrong, your spouse is just being too needy or annoying or critical. This leaves your spouse empty handed and lonely.

Drug Addiction Prevents You From Being Loving and Intimate

Your spouse married you to to share love and intimacy between you. Love is more than just a warm feeling. It is the behavior you take towards someone you are devoted to and care about. Your emotional and sexual intimacy makes your marriage different from any other relationship in your life. When that void becomes a cavern because you can’t have a healthy sex life and mutual emotional support, your spouse feels unimportant and rejected.

Drug Rehab Can Help Restore Your Marriage

You are the architect of your own life, which is good news. You can act how you choose when you are single. But when you are married, you are morally obligated to bring your best healthy self to the relationship. Drug rehab is a way for you get sober and do just that. You and your spouse will see the difference if you take that step.