As someone who works with a lot of people who have drug and alcohol issues, either in some state of recovery or in the precomtemplative stages of change, I get a dull ache inside whenever someone famous dies in the way that Whitney Houston died. The lethal combination of prescription pills and alcohol is a sure fired way to kill yourself, even when you don't want to kill yourself. But the tragedy that is Whitney Houston's death is the same tragedy played out in Michael Jackson's death or Amy Winehouse's death. We didn't really need an autopsy to tell us how they died.
Again, as someone who works with people with drug and alcohol issues, I know one thing to be true. I will not let one single day go by when I don't say something, anything, to these folks about their drug and alcohol abuse. And therein lies the real tragedy of Whitney, Michael, Amy and countless other superstars who have met this same tragic end. When you are famous, no one tells you no. When you are famous, even if your family begs you to stop there are numerous others out there who will assist you in your demise because it makes them feel special and famous by default. Every single one of these stars had the money and resources to get into a good rehab and pay someone to be at their side 24/7 if they wanted to. That someone would have to be strong and say NO and keep saying no until that star bought in to their own recovery and sobriety. I work with people who do kick their habits and get sober with no resources and no family to lean on. They do it on their own. So someone like Whitney surely could have done it too.
Whitney was a great talent and a very troubled human being. I feel for her daughter and the rest of her family. I hope that her death will not merely be a celebration of her talent but a tragic lesson to those out there who are slowly killing themselves and I hope they will find someone with the balls to tell them NO!
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