May 3, 2012

Re-Examining Whitney Houston’s Battles With Substance Abuse In Light Of Bobby Brown’s ‘Today’ Interview

Yesterday, we wrote in detail about Bobby Brown’s first interview since the death of his ex-wife Whitney Houston.

The interview aired this morning on ‘Today’, with Bobby telling Matt Lauer that he wasn’t to blame for the singer’s early demise, and that he didn’t get her hooked on drugs.

When Matt asked him if Whitney was the victim and if he was behind her drug use, Bobby said: “No, that’s not true. I didn’t get high before I met Whitney. No, I- I — I smoked weed, I drank the beer, but no, I wasn’t the one that got Whitney on drugs at all.”

And he added that Whitney was dabbling in illegal substances “way, way before,” they got together.

We spoke to Richard Taite, President and CEO of Cliffside Malibu, to get his perspective on Bobby’s claims, and why, after several trips to rehab, Whitney still continued to dabble in illegal drugs.

Here’s out interview with him…

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May 2, 2012

Addiction expert weighs in on surge in babies born with drug issues

A new study published today in JAMA  (Journal of American Medical Assoc.) reveals that the number of babies addicted to drugs – and who must experience withdrawal – tripled in the last decade.

USAToday.com reports that physician-prescribed painkillers like Oxycotin and Vicodin are largely responsible.

“Our country is being flooded by a tidal wave of painkillers being prescribed by well-meaning but essentially clueless physicians who don’t think about where these pills end up down the pipeline,” says Robert Waldman, M.D., an addictionmedicine specialist with 25 years experience and a member of the detox team at famed Cliffside Malibu treatment center in Los Angeles (http://www.cliffsidemalibu.com/)  “The tragedy of this study is that these infantaddictions could have been largely prevented if we had a better control on how prescription painkillers are distributed.”

In fact, more than 15 million people in the United States are abusing prescription drugs, which is more than the combined number of people abusing cocaine, hallucinogens, inhalants, and heroin. Accidental deaths associated with prescription drug abuse outnumber overdose deaths from heroin and cocaine combined. (source: National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University)

Dr. Waldman adds, “Prescription pills and pregnancy have an especially insidious relationship.  Because they’re doctor-prescribed, painkillers lull the user into thinking that they must be safe. Based on my own experience in emergency room critical care, I think most of the mothers identified in the study are average working women whom you’re more likely find living next door to you than encounter in some dark alley.”

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April 26, 2012

Halle Berry and Daniel Craig made it from the streets to stardom, but not all stories have Hollywood endings

With big dreams of becoming a famous actor, a 20-year-old struggling male model moved to Hollywood from his small Midwest hometown in 2005. Without a penny to his name, and unable to find work, he was soon evicted from his L.A. apartment, and found himself one of Hollywood’s thousands of homeless.

“I don’t have wealthy parents, and they couldn’t help me. Either I sleep on the streets or I move home. Amazing what you will do to be an actor,” he told FOX411.com’s Pop Tarts column. “The best place was sleeping at the 7-11 in Hollywood until I figured out a way to get on my feet. I still made auditions, and no one had any clue I was homeless. It was hard to find places to clean up, but I got by.”

After six months on the streets, he got his big break: a role in an independent film. Making more friends and contacts in the industry, he also managed to find a couch to sleep on, and continued to score more work. Today, the actor boasts credits including a successful network sitcom and a role in one of the biggest super hero film franchises in history.

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April 24, 2012

Pat Robertson backs legal marijuana. Will other conservatives follow?

“Clearly he is ill-informed about the drug war,” says Calvina Fay, executive director of the Drug Free America Foundation. She says in 1978, 58 percent of high school seniors had used an illicit drug in the past year, compared with 28 percent in 1992 – more than a 50 percent drop.

The numbers have crept back up to 40 percent, a trend she attributes both to the 16 states andWashington, D.C., which have legalized the medical use of marijuana, as well as the big push in Californialast fall to legalize recreational use throughProposition 19.

But she adds, “We are still well below the 1978 usage rate, hardly a complete failure.”

For Paul Armentano, deputy director for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, the recent trends relate to a bigger picture. Polls have been shifting for three decades, showing that voters of all ages and both parties support regulating cannabis like alcohol, he says. At least 70 percent of Americans support legalizing medical marijuana, he says.

“When a person like Pat Robertson realizes that the immorality of jailing nonviolent marijuana users, keeping medicine away from the sick, and contributing to murder and mayhem in Latin America is far, far worse that the supposed immorality of using marijuana, we have reached a positive turning point in the debate,” adds Morgan Fox of the Marijuana Policy Project in an e-mail. “We are starting to see more people’s moral judgments aligning themselves with the realities of marijuana prohibition.”

Critics, however, worry that Robertson’s comments only hurt antidrug efforts.

“If you work and live in the world of addiction, a world where you have your sleeves rolled up and are dealing with the true impact that drugs have on society, you just may have something to say to people like Pat Robertson, who so cavalierly come out with a statement like this,” says Richard Taite, founder of Cliffside Malibu, an addiction treatment center, in an e-mail.

Adds Robert DuPont, president of the Institute for Behavior and Health: “I think he’s acting out of his sense of compassion and thinks he is being reasonable, but that he is drinking the Kool-Aid of the pro-marijuana forces.”

Recently, Robertson said that God could have stopped the tornadoes that swept the Midwest if more people had been praying. He also said in December that homosexual people can “un-acquire” the lifestyle.

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