Celebrity+Overdose+Final+Article

__Celebrities are People Too__
Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Anna Nichole Smith all had something in common and that was fame. They also died from the effects of substance abuse.The most recent celebrity to succumb to substance abuse was Whitney Houston. I was personally touched by her death because I grew up listening to her music. I also painfully watched her rise and gradual fall from fame. However, I wasn’t the only one, Whitney Houston’s death sparked a wave of emotional outcries as well as plenty of hype. The emotional frenzy could be found expressed on the news as well as popular social networks such as Twitter and Facebook.With the overwhelming reaction to Whitney’s death and the continued rise in drug induced deaths among celebrities, it can make one wonder what is the social impact that these deaths have on the larger population? Where does celebrity death by substance abuse stand in relation to the larger general public. For instance, is the issue only a problem for celebrities or is it a problem within the whole of society? Since celebrities are in reality ordinary people they represent a microcosm of the larger society and; therefore, drug induced death is certainly the reflection of a social and psychological problem within the whole of society.

According to Danniel Harris the author of “Celebrity Deaths” celebrities have two bodies, private and public, in which the private bodies are owned by the public. He argues that although they have two bodies, they are not invincible and their deaths especially the premature or untimely deaths causes public grief which is now days being magnified by the Internet. He also argues that for just as many who rush to post their grievance for the death of a celebrity there is an equal numbers of people who are not shy to question the excess of those who do. Which brings attention to the conversation that people influenced by celebrity and want to imitate their lifestyle by also abusing drugs. However according to Shaw “Crack down on the celebrity junkies,” teenagers who are the easiest influenced were the most critical of the sudden death of the famous singer Amy Winehouse which was also due to substance abuse.

Furthermore In the article on “Everything Addiction: A Snapshot of Drug Abuse in the United States Today,” the author has an interesting take on the public focus on celebrity death as a way to track the trends in drug abuse. The author believes that this is a “morbid “ way to view such a serious issue as substance abuse which certainly requires a more reliable way of evaluating the issue. For example, sources such as the annual National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) conducted every year through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration is primary source of statistical information on substance abuse. According to the article

"The NSDUH survey indicates that over 23 million Americans or 9.1% of all those over 12 years old meet the requirements to enter treatment for drug and/or alcohol abuse, but in 2010, only 2.6 million were in treatment. Among this group, 881,000 were being treated for drug abuse, 958,000 for alcoholism and 625,000 for both.”

Taking these statistics in consideration, it shows that this is a problem for the whole society and therefore can be attributed to the rise of death in the celebrity population as well.

Although there could be a number of reasons as a society we tend to empathizes and gravitate to the tragedy of celebrity death caused by substance abuse, it is clear that the issue is not just something that is only exclusive to that segment of the population. Celebrities are ordinary people who represent a microcosm of the larger society however behind the glamor and fame, they are people who live with insecurities and vulnerabilities like anyone else. Although celebrity death by substance abuse gets more attention due to status and fame it is certainly the reflection of a social and psychological problem within the whole of society.

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** Celebrity Overdoses: Who Do You Blame? **
Over the past few decades celebrity overdoses have become the “current epidemic” of Hollywood. Every few months another star dies and the country is shocked. But are they really? Up until this recent generation, no one has filed charges against any doctors or physicians for the death of the unfortunate celebrities. During this past November of 2011, the court case for the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, ended with the conviction of his personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray. In Hollywood, court cases would only go so far and then lose evidence or creditably. The court cases of Hollywood are surrounded by false information that could mislead a case; therefore Hollywood court cases only go so far in convicting a criminal. Cases like Marylin Monroe and Elvis Presley were never fully finished because they lacked crucial evidence to blame someone for their deaths. However, the Michael Jackson court case was properly handled. The question is did it result in justice?

When people confuse the legal and emotional perspective of a court case, information can be rearranged to fit the “desired truth.” When a person overdoses on a medication, it seems right to blame them for the overdose and end all convictions and suspensions. The court system sees it differently, though, because they look at who was responsible for releasing these heavy medications to people with high anxiety and emotional imbalance. Overall, when justifying the responsibility of a complicated death such as this, officials have to decide whether the celebrity themselves are at fault for an overdose, legal or illegal. In addition, authorities must decide whether an attending physician who prescribed medications to the patient are to blame, or in rare cases, if there needs to be better communication between physicians to avoid any possible in mixing prescriptions.

Court cases that deal with overdose tragedies are difficult to close and usually end in finding a scapegoat. Do you blame the individual taking the drug or the individual prescribing the drug? In her article, Linda Deutsch, reporter for MSNBC news, describes the court case of the late Michael Jackson’s death. His doctor, Dr. Conrad Murray was convicted of involuntary manslaughter because he gave Michael Jackson a powerful drug used in an operating room, so that he could sleep better. Murray prescribed propofol, a strong anesthetic usually given to those in surgery, in Jackson’s home. The coroner of Los Angeles County ruled that the cause of Jackson’s death was from “intoxication in combination with sedatives,” (Williams). This caused many respiratory problems and implications, which lead to death. During the court trial, it became known that Murray “administered the drug via IV drip that allowed it to spill unmonitored into Jackson,” (Williams). Murray’s lawyers blamed Jackson for his own overdose and claimed that it may have been an accident. The pop icon formed a contract with Murray that said he would pay him around $150,000 a month for treatment when he went on tour. Dr. Conrad Murray was never paid because Michael Jackson died before his Europe tour could start. Jackson was the only patient Murray was treating at the time. Murray was immediately handcuffed after the verdict was, he was also denied bail, and lost his medical license (Williams). Given this information one could argue that it was Michael Jackson’s own fault for overdosing since he was paying Dr. Conrad Murray for such heavy sedatives. However, Dr. Conrad Murray should have used his medical license for the greater good and not just for the money. A main goal is to help the unhealthy and keep people from harm; he instead prescribed dangerous sedatives to a person who was already battling anxiety from the press. Dr. Conrad Murray was proven guilty because of his own selfish intentions.



Another court case that involved an overdose was the Anna Nicole Smith case, where Larry Birkhead was fighting for custody of their child Dannielynn. Smith claimed her child was not Birkhead’s, but instead her curre nt partner’s, Howard Stern. Robert Alt describes in his article Anna Nicole Smith’s life after death. He discusses the events that occurred after her sudden death in the Bahamas after just releasing entertainment videos a few days before. Larry Birkhead was battling for custody of his and Smith’s child Dannielynn around the time of her death (Alt). Although Howard Stern, Anna Nicole Smith’s lawyer and lover, claimed that the child was his. Little Dannielynn is to inherit half of the estimated billion-dollar estate of Anna Nicole Smith’s former deceased husband, J. Howard Marshall (Alt). This may been a reason for such a high-level court case within the Hollywood world.

Anna Nicole Smith married a significantly older man, who was wealthy. After he passed away she went to court to claim her part of the will, which was around a billion-dollar settlement. Her daughter is to inherit this money, so Howard Stern could have been fighting for a child that he knew was not his just for the money (Alt). Did Howard Stern want to get rid of Anna Nicole Smith? After her death the fight over custody continued and Birkhead won because of the DNA results. Entertainment news stations compared her unexpected death to the death of Marylin Monroe, suddenly tragic. If a court case were to open about why Anna Nicole Smith overdosed,would a phys ician be convicted? The coroner ruled her death as accidental, was she stressed from the current court case involving her daughter? Howard Stern was legally responsible for Anna Nicole because he was her lawyer and partner at the time. Why did he not stop her from taking heavy prescriptions? The reason is still unknown, but Howard Stern is morally at fault for the death of Anna Nicole Smith because he should have stopped the “woman he loved” for taking medications that could end her life. Celebrities are just like regular people with regular anxieties involving their careers and families. Hollywood’s court cases seem to be ignored if the public believes the reason the media is issuing.

A rare case that ended with the verdict of accidental overdose was the death of Heath Ledger. Heath Ledger had just finished shooting the Dark Knight and was later found dead from an accidental overdose at a young age and strong start to his career. After an autopsy, the New York City’s medical examiner found a combination of strong painkillers, anti-anxiety medicines and sleeping acids in Ledger’s system (“Heath Ledger…”). He was getting prescriptions from numerous doctors, who did not know he was receiving other medications from other doctors. The result of his sudden overdose is because of the mixture of strong medications within his body. The New York City’s medical examiner claimed that he died of “acute intoxication” from the abuse of prescription medications, (“Heath Ledger…”). “Experts said the combination of sedatives and the other medicines likely combined to suppress his brain function and his breathing,” (“Heath Ledger…”). The police reported no illegal drugs or alcohol present in Heath Ledger’s apartment that day. The lack of communication and responsibility of the patient to tell the physicians of the other treatment he was undergoing caused this tragic death. The public viewed this death as sudden, tragic, and unbelievable. After his death, the Drug Enforcement Administration spoke out about how the use of several medications and mixing prescriptions can lead to severe consequences. From a legal perspective, you cannot blame one person because a group was involved. Instead one can make laws and regulations that involve physicians communicating and denying the act of prescribing multiple medications to a patient whom is already undergoing intense treatment.

Some courts are specialized for these cases and are very instrumental in forming a better way to save people from themselves and drugs. A drug court is a type of court for those who are abusing drugs in non-violent ways. Drug courts rely on judges, court personnel, probation, and treatment providers for their convictions. There have been studies concerning the outcomes of drug courts, in which case have been positive. The first drug court was arranged in Miami, Florida of 1989, where “Judge Herbert M. Klein was determined to ‘solve the problem of larger numbers of people on drugs,’” (Miami’s Drug Court: //A Different Approach,// 1993). Drug courts now exist in all fifty states, Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, Guam, and Northern Mariana Islands (“Drug Courts”). Many critics believe that the Drug Courts could be a “problem-solving” technique for other crimes. This could be the new solution to stop this uprising epidemic and save celebrities and citizens from the harmful drugs and sedatives that surround society.

Heavy medications and sedatives seem like the only solution to treat anxiety or depression. Society has become dependent of these drugs to save them from the uneasiness of life and its problems. In order to decrease the amount of overdoses, society as a whole should realize that drugs are never an anti-depressant. This means that any form of abuse or tolerance forming issue can lead to death. Drugs have affected society for decades and now it seems to be out of control. The legal system is already regulating the amount of medication a physician can prescribe to their patients, but society has to do its part too. Drugs are not main form of medication for anxiety or depression sickness; instead regulate the drugs, never abuse, and always talk with a physician about the possible outcomes and issues the drug can cause.

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__**Celebrities and Fame**__
Celebrities’ main priorities are looking good and doing anything they can to conserve the fame they have, but do they not care about their health? Health is what makes a person stay strong, physically and mentally. Without health, we would probably look and feel like walking zombies. I have observed in the past few years that many celebrities’ such as Demi Moore, Lindsay Lohan or even Eminem, overwork themselves and after all the stress and pressure that they put on themselves; they turn to alcohol and drugs to relieve their stress and not even worry about their well-being. Some celebrities’ have gone too far with the use of drugs and alcohol, some even causing overdoses and deaths. Most people believe celebrities’ turn to drugs and alcohol because they feel lonely, they take them as a stress reliever, they are influenced, and it’s a habit, but at the end they always say they exercise, eat well and do anything they can to be and stay healthy. These are only excuses, and these excuses can cause long term consequences. In fact, some of the consequences of such addictions are liver failure caused by drinking alcohol and having diabetes, damages in brain development and cardiovascular failure. Due to society’s lack of awareness of health consequences, we have ignored the effects of drug overdoses and substance abuse. Most importantly this has caused society to accept these overdoses and not do anything to prevent it from becoming an epidemic! Society as a whole need to come together, open their eyes, and start protesting against these celebrities who are only encouraging us to follow their bad habits and addictions. As mentioned earlier, there are several consequences with people depending on drugs and alcohol. One major consequence is the failure of the cardiovascular system. We all know, even celebrities’ know that we need this system to survive. The physician Sobel Solomon mentions in his article //Long-Term Consequences of Drugs on the Pediatric Cardiovascular System////,// that drugs can have direct and indirect effects on the heart, and these effects can be immediate or delayed for years. As a result of this, the death rates caused by heart failures are only increasing and are eventually going to become out of control. Therefore society’s awareness of the effects of drugs on the cardiovascular system needs to be increased to decline the death rates. “It is likely that a significant number of children will be prescribed drugs having either direct or indirect effects upon the immature cardiovascular system” (Solomon). We can take Drew Barrymore as a prime example for this issue. Todd Gold mentions in the article he wrote for People’s magazine, //The Secret Drew Barrymore// that she had a rough childhood. She started smoking marijuana when she was 10 and by the age of 12 she was already doing cocaine. And as a result of alcohol and drug addiction, Drew Barrymore had to go under drug rehabilitation more than once. Clearly we can see that children are going to take drugs whether they are prescribed or not. So as a result of this issue, adults should keep their children busy with sports in order for them to not use drugs and stay in shape. In addition to the cardiovascular system, the neuro-development can also be affected by drugs. Amelia Arria mentions in her article //Adolescent brain development and drugs// that the brain is still developing throughout the adolescent years. This means that people who take drugs throughout their adolescence are most likely going to damage their brain and maybe even develop psychological disorders later on in their life. With the use of drugs, and the damage it can produce on the brain, it might explain the risky behaviors people have sometimes (Arria). With this being said, we could probably explain the behavior of Lindsay Lohan. All the drugs her body has taken in, it’s had an impact on her brain and this is probably why she behaves the way she does. “The fact remains that several converging lines of evidence indicate that age is a risk factor that is associated with the onset of drug use during adolescence and young adulthood” (Arria). As we can see, the people who take drugs at relatively young ages are going to have the most effects in their body. Therefore celebrities need to consider if they should care more about their fame of their health during their adolescence. Another consequence of this issue is how alcohol can affect one’s judgment and thinking ability as well as low blood glucose levels can, if a person has diabetes (Roberts). This is a common consequence of drinking alcohol that most people are aware of and tend not to care. “Alcohol and low blood glucose together resulted in the lowest level of performance, roughly equal to the sum of the effects of alcohol and low blood glucose combined. They also found that drinking alcohol increased the symptoms of low blood glucose” (Roberts). In such case, we can think of Bret Michaels who suffers from diabetes I. According to Michaels, a person with diabetes is not supposed to be real active and there can be several consequences such as a brain hemorrhage if we don’t treat it in a proper way (Tauber). Therefore we can see that not treating diabetes in the right way can lead to several consequences maybe even death. That is why we need to learn how to keep ourselves healthy. “So no matter how good a judge you think you are at gauging whether you are fit to drive when your blood glucose levels are low, you're probably wrong. Alcohol impairs both your ability and your judgment” (Roberts). With what Michaels has been through and from what he has experienced throughout his life, he would agree with this quote.  Michaels says  “ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">When I say 'party' and 'let's have fun,' I'm one of those guys that just likes to have a great time. I'm not a belligerent drunk. I don't need to drink. ... For a diabetic ... it's a double whammy because here's what happens with alcohol: when you're hung-over then you don't eat right, you don't take your insulin right. So it's best to stay away” (Tauber). As a result of this, people should take Michaels opinion as a wake-up call and start taking control of our lives. Society needs to start finding healthy things to do on their days off and start balancing their lives before it is too late to do so. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">To summarize the issue How the Use Drugs and Alcohol can affect one’s body, we can conclude that society needs to stay healthy and maintain healthy bodies. But most importantly, not to become influenced by celebrities who are addicted to these drugs and substances. And by this, the only thing we can do is to increase the awareness of what these drugs can do to our body. Our liver, cardiovascular system and brain are parts of the body that are fundamental for survival; therefore we need to stop ignoring celebrities and take their actions as a wake-up call to see what can happen to us if we rely on drugs and alcohol. “Adolescents, more so than adults, are more likely to be highly persuaded by the influences of peers” (Arria). Also, with Arria’s statement, we can conclude that celebrities’ can be very influential on society; therefore if we do not do anything to stop these overdoses, society is just going to become a whole world of walking zombies.

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