Whitney Houston was 48 when she was found dead last Saturday. Her actual cause of death isn't known at this point but youngish women like her simply don’t drop dead. Has to be a reason. Most speculate on drugs. Some want a culprit to blame. Prescription drugs found in her hotel room? Quick, investigate her doctors. Family, where were they? And what about her friends? Couldn't they see the obvious?
The sad truth is Ms. Houston was an addict. A serious addict that flunked rehab many times. Medically speaking there’s a simple reality to drug addiction. Addicts die young. They do not get their allotted eighty plus years. Ms. Houston's death is awful even tragic but entirely predictable. Undoubtedly she had enablers. Iconic, mega rich stars always do but we all do. Every single one of us and they can be just as ruthlessly destructive in our lives as hers.
Don’t believe me? Recently on my radio show, Dr. Chambers On Call on KFWB News Talk 980, I was joking about a study that claimed you're more likely to be fat if your friends are fat. In other words being fat is contagious. Sounds crazy but it’s true. If your friends are fat, they're more likely to binge eat, not exercise and spend their free time in cahoots with you. Get the picture? In many ways your fat friends are enablers to you as you are to them.
My point is, let’s not get distracted looking for someone to blame for Whitney’s death. I’d suggest, you want to honor her untimely death reconsider what addiction is and isn't. It’s not a choice. Addiction is a disease that victimizes the sufferer just like diabetes or asthma or hypertension. It’s a disease like any other that deserves our compassion, help and resources. Time to remove the stigma of addiction. Time to help patients who suffer with addiction. Time to stop locking them up.
