poledriver
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Jul 21, 2005
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How and why celebrities get hooked by heroin
WHAT is it with celebrities and heroin?
The lives of a number of well-known people will be linked to the dangerous and addictive drug forever now -and in many cases overshadow the work they became household names for.
Philip Seymour Hoffman, found dead in February with a syringe in his arm and small envelopes of drugs scattered throughout his New York apartment, joins Cory Meredith, Janis Joplin, River Phoenix and John Belushi, who all overdosed and died after taking either heroin or a combination of heroin and cocaine.
The most recent casualty is Peaches Geldof, 25, the daughter of Band Aid founder Bob Geldof. She died last month from a suspected heroin overdose, 14 years after her own mother, TV personality Paula Yates, overdosed and died exactly the same way.
When Hoffman died, fans and celebrities were shocked that such a highly respected and gifted actor could be lost to a drug overdose. But experts say heroin and Hollywood have gone hand-in-hand for decades.
“That heroin is used in the entertainment industry and that group of individuals is nothing new. We could have been having this conversation 60 years ago, in the 1950s, when heroin use was huge among jazz musicians,” Dr. Jason Jerry, director of the Cleveland Clinic, told ABC News.
“Entertainers are just probably more in the spotlight than the rest of the population so we hear about it more.’’
Many are shocked that those in the public eye could hide a heroin habit.
Drug experts say heroin use among entertainers may surprise the public because the hardcore drug is not talked about the same way that cocaine or other desigern drugs were discussed.
“There are people who go everyday using a little bit of heroin and you would never know it,” said Dr. Joseph Strand of Harvard Medical School. “Perhaps it’s hidden better (because) it’s not culturally condoned.”
Why certain people are attracted to a particular drug may never be known, but addiction experts note cocaine has a reputation for being appealing to business people for its ability give them energy and focus.
Heroin’s appeal is that it allows users to escape reality - which for those in high-stress or highly visible professions may be a temptation too great to ignore.
“In certain professions where there is high stress there is a greater proclivity to people using alcohol or drugs to get rid of that kind of stress,” Strand said.
“Part of what may be happening in some people is there is this sense of invulnerability, they have this high profile, visible profile and other people give them all this acclaim, and there is a sense that nothing bad can ever happen to me.”
“Certainly there is the idea that type-A personalities gravitate toward stimulants because they feel it increases their productivity and boosts their performance, at least initially,” said Jerry, although he pointed out heroin addictions affected all demographics and professions.
Continued -
http://www.news.com.au/entertainmen...hooked-by-heroin/story-fnk822dn-1226903384374
WHAT is it with celebrities and heroin?
The lives of a number of well-known people will be linked to the dangerous and addictive drug forever now -and in many cases overshadow the work they became household names for.
Philip Seymour Hoffman, found dead in February with a syringe in his arm and small envelopes of drugs scattered throughout his New York apartment, joins Cory Meredith, Janis Joplin, River Phoenix and John Belushi, who all overdosed and died after taking either heroin or a combination of heroin and cocaine.
The most recent casualty is Peaches Geldof, 25, the daughter of Band Aid founder Bob Geldof. She died last month from a suspected heroin overdose, 14 years after her own mother, TV personality Paula Yates, overdosed and died exactly the same way.
When Hoffman died, fans and celebrities were shocked that such a highly respected and gifted actor could be lost to a drug overdose. But experts say heroin and Hollywood have gone hand-in-hand for decades.
“That heroin is used in the entertainment industry and that group of individuals is nothing new. We could have been having this conversation 60 years ago, in the 1950s, when heroin use was huge among jazz musicians,” Dr. Jason Jerry, director of the Cleveland Clinic, told ABC News.
“Entertainers are just probably more in the spotlight than the rest of the population so we hear about it more.’’
Many are shocked that those in the public eye could hide a heroin habit.
Drug experts say heroin use among entertainers may surprise the public because the hardcore drug is not talked about the same way that cocaine or other desigern drugs were discussed.
“There are people who go everyday using a little bit of heroin and you would never know it,” said Dr. Joseph Strand of Harvard Medical School. “Perhaps it’s hidden better (because) it’s not culturally condoned.”
Why certain people are attracted to a particular drug may never be known, but addiction experts note cocaine has a reputation for being appealing to business people for its ability give them energy and focus.
Heroin’s appeal is that it allows users to escape reality - which for those in high-stress or highly visible professions may be a temptation too great to ignore.
“In certain professions where there is high stress there is a greater proclivity to people using alcohol or drugs to get rid of that kind of stress,” Strand said.
“Part of what may be happening in some people is there is this sense of invulnerability, they have this high profile, visible profile and other people give them all this acclaim, and there is a sense that nothing bad can ever happen to me.”
“Certainly there is the idea that type-A personalities gravitate toward stimulants because they feel it increases their productivity and boosts their performance, at least initially,” said Jerry, although he pointed out heroin addictions affected all demographics and professions.
Continued -
http://www.news.com.au/entertainmen...hooked-by-heroin/story-fnk822dn-1226903384374
