Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley, and Anna Nicole Smith:

Death is the Prescription, how many more? 09/09

Prescription drug abuse, which I term medical drug addiction, like all addictions including
alcoholism, (addiction to ethyl alcohol), though more widely recognized nowadays, is still not
widely understood. And of course, the practice of combining the abuse of prescription drugs,
(obtained legally or not), with “street drugs”, and maybe adding alcohol to the mix, though
highly dangerous, is commonplace too. My substance abuse Professor, James Crossen
Ph/D, used the generic term “Drugoholism” to cover all Chemical Dependency Issues,
because though they have surface differences, most of the underlying downward spiraling
progression process, towards ultimate destruction and often death, is the same. Poly-
substance Abuse is the technical term. “Better living through chemistry.” is the 12 step
equivalent.

According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, nearly 7 million Americans are

abusing prescription drugs, more than the numbers who are abusing cocaine, heroin,
hallucinogens and ecstasy combined. The DEA says the number of painkiller addicts has
nearly doubled from 2000, when 3.8 million Americans were hooked, Prescription and illegal
drug overdose is the second leading cause of accidental death in the United States,
according to the Centers for Disease Control. "Nearly all poisoning deaths in the United
States are attributed to drugs," according to the CDC, "and most drug poisonings result from
the abuse of prescription and illegal drugs." Prescription drug overdoses now kill more
people than homicide.

How do we reconcile these facts with the continued over-prescription of these drugs, and
the continuing high profile celebrity deaths, only the more visible tip of this massive iceberg?
Compare the two following statements. “He was rocketed to stardom, but unable to handle
the pressures of money and fame, he turned to drugs.” Or, “His career was going downhill,
and unable to handle the pain of failure, he turned to drugs.” As a young man stated on the
phone to me as a “hotline” counselor, “I only drink when I have problems.” I replied, “It
seems to me that life is full of problems, so that means you will always be drinking!” Appalled
silence on the other end, then a small voice, “Oh, I never thought about it like that.” Really!!

Similarly, “He is drinking because his wife died.” What about the majority whose wives
have died, who are not? Mistaking effects for causes, and vice-versa, in the self-feeding
reciprocating cycles of Drugoholism, is the usual rather than an exception. "Often what
happens is someone experiences discomfort, anxiety, or pain. They start being treated with
medicine, and need more," said Dr. Steven Juergens, an assistant clinical Professor of
Psychiatry at the University of Washington and a private addiction specialist in Bellevue,
Washington. “They feel better when using the medication and often feel like "they need it,"”
“I’m not an addict, I never took a drug to get high,” maintained Michael Jackson.
Unfortunately his non-addiction proved fatal. Dr. Paul, another Psychiatrist, reports in the
hilarious history of his personal Drugoholism, entitled “Doctor, Addict, Alcoholic,” “I never
took a pill I didn’t have the symptom for.” From the book, “Alcoholics Anonymous.” Anyone
who is in the position of refuting that they have a problem usually has one. By the time any
question comes up, some kind of difficulty has already begun. When was the last time your
Sunday Church going, one sherry at Christmas Great Aunt Maude, had to disprove ideas she
has might have a problem?
 What is missing in most media reportage on celebrity addiction is that THE PERSON is
the addict, and more specifically, the person’s choices have become dominated by addictive
thinking. All behavior choices are the result of thinking, conscious or otherwise, so addiction
operates in the addict’s head, not in the pill or bottle in their hand. Recently I read on the web
another hypnotherapist’s statement, “After twenty five years of practice, my observation is
that addiction is 10% physical and 90% psychological.” Otherwise those leaving
incarceration, rehabs, or hospital detoxification units, who are physically sober, would never
relapse! Right! One client I was counseling, an early stage milder case, could not “get it” until
I said, “You are dependent on changing your mood with a chemical to get through the day.”
His eyes focused and lit up. “That’s me,” he exclaimed, and his resistance to recognizing his
alcohol abuse, mainly due to false ideas and stigma, evaporated. This was despite being
comfortable with the concept of addiction, as applied to his intermittent cocaine binges. A
facet of the times perhaps, or it’s relative undeniability in his case, as he hated the effects of
his cocaine use, while still clinging to the far slower destructive direction of his alcohol
consumption.

So a person’s chosen response to inner and outer “stress” is the missing link, this is what
creates a Drugoholic. An addiction to the “quick fix”, to the easy way out, ensues. This, apart
from any other factors, becomes an ingrained increasing habitual response, including
response the real or imaginary stress created by the addiction itself. One of the many self-
feeding cycles of addiction, independent of the “host” personality. Part of the cognitive,
(thought), behavioral habit apparatus, known as psychological habituation in Drugoholism.
And the alterations of cognitive processes and perceptions produced by ongoing use,
whether physical, due to chemical toxicity in the brain, or psychological, from the addictive
process itself, continues to actually create and additionally amplify perceived stress, as the
condition, (the dis-ease) progresses. Plus any negative results of the addiction in the real
world. So there is an increasing reliance on chemicals for stress relief, and increasing
amounts of stress, real or created mentally, or both, needing relief. This process underlies
the confusion created by focusing on any combination of chemicals, or circumstances, at any
given time.

All of this mentality applies to the withdrawal physiology of the body, when a Drugoholic
initially attempts to “clean up”. So this becomes a major source of Drugoholic terror at the
idea of, or results of withdrawals, rather than the withdrawals themselves. This is irrespective
of the fact that with severe physical, (metabolic) dependencies, that may be both physically
and psychologically horrendous. The problem is not the initial withdrawals, for a true
Drugoholic, insurmountable as the addiction convinces the addict, (and bystanders), to
believe. The problem is learning to live a life on an ongoing daily basis without resorting to
chemicals to escape/recoil/retreat from inner and outer reality and stress in any way.

How much of Michael Jackson’s “weirdness” and reports of him being a “complicated”
person, were not due to his personality, but were in fact his response to medical drug, (and
other drugs perhaps) addiction I wonder? His spendaholic ways an attempt to fill the feelings
of inner emptiness that addiction creates, expressed with a grandiosity that his wealth
permitted? And the degeneration into histrionic emotionalism, hysterical melodrama and
other forms of narcissistic immaturity, that so often becomes exaggerated as part of the
overall deterioration of Drugoholism, as exhibited by Anna Nicole Smith too? Even worse,
many categories of psychiatric drugs can cause potentially horrendous reactions. Prozac,
Paxil, Zoloft, Adderall, Ritalin, Concerta, Xanax, Lithium, Zyprexa and other psychiatric
medications may convince patients into believing that they are improving, when too often
they are becoming worse, without the individuals realizing that their medications are
deforming, perhaps semi-permanently, their way of thinking and feeling. Later, when the drug
use becomes fatal, people including doctors, wish to describe it as an accidental overdose.
About as accidental for an addict as picking up a loaded gun and playing Russian roulette,
while putting more bullets in the chamber as time goes on. Unintentional, yes. Accidental
hardly. Inevitable, certainly. In AA they describe the end results of Alcoholism as, “Jails,
institutions and death.”

There are many reasons for this confusion around Drugoholism. Myth, misinformation,
misunderstanding and ignorance, using a true meaning of the word which is, “lacking
information”, abound. In “The First Session with Substance Abusers.” Nicholas A. Cummings,
Ph/D, quotes studies that show MD’s identify .05% of alcohol/drug problems in those who
cross their door, while those well trained in Chemical Dependency identify 100%! Two
hundred times more! Psychologists and other allied professions may often fare not much
better in my experience and opinion. The psychology of addiction is a specialized field.
Though MD’s and Clinical Psychologists are highly respected and often quoted authorities,
unless they have this specialized education, it is more likely to be a case of the blind leading
the blind.

The current usual attitude to prescription drugs blinds MD’s to what is happening. How
many times is a new wonder drug trumpeted abroad? Sleep aids, Barbiturates etc., (Mebaral
and Nembutal). Stimulants, (“uppers” such as Dexedrine, Adderall, Ritalin and Concerta).
Tranquilizers, (Benzodiazepines such as Valium and Xanax). Painkillers from Oxycontin type
designer opioids on down? Even anti-depressants, including SSRI's, (Paxil, Prozac and
Zoloft), can be seen to be addictive from a non-medical perspective. All of these are now the
source of endless drug problems. I never tire of reminding people, “The first medical use for
Heroin was as a cure for Morphine addiction.” So when medical people proclaim the latest
painkiller or anti-anxiety medication as non-addictive or non-habit forming, I retort, “Except for
those persons with chronic long-term anxiety, or chronic long-term pain.” This is in respect of
any combination of these factors, plus those induced by the medications themselves, and
addictive ones, real or imagined of course.

As Drugoholism is stigmatized, people are loath to attribute this bad “character flaw” to
another, especially those idolized and celebrated for other genuine talents. And the ongoing
mental, emotional and physical deterioration/degeneration process of Drugoholism is
attributed to other sources to excuse the addicts again, in order to avoid personally
“denigrating” them. This goes hand-in-hand with the addict’s “blaming defenses”. In actuality,
the vulnerability to addiction in many recent studies increasingly reveals a 50%
genetic/biochemical basis. There is also another additional constellation of factors that are
outside the person’s current will power or control, from pre-verbal cellular level infantile
trauma, to role modeling from early childhood onwards. And there are many others too.

Current psychic pain, “His wife died…” is perhaps the least factor, except for extremes
such as severe traumatic events, warfare for example, as also the last ditch of blaming it on
childhood pain. Again, there are many with severe childhood pain that display no addictive
tendencies whatsoever. It is the Drugoholic’s chosen reaction to the stress and pain of
childhood issues that fuel their addiction, though it may be true that childhood pain may
produce psycho-neurological changes that add to the addictive mix.

Another source of confusion is the actual disinformation put out by the psychiatric-
medical-pharmaceutical complex. This has been rigorously documented by the psychiatrist
Peter Breggin, MD, dealing with the medical bureaucracy at its highest levels. He reports
how the drug manufacturer Eli Lilly was taken to court for offences tantamount to repeated
criminal fraud in this regard. (Recently - 09/09 - Pfizer has been fined over two billion dollars,
for similar ones, following their string of similar offences). In the early 1990’s, in his book,
“Toxic Psychiatry.” he outlined the growing problem of medical addiction. “The commonest
drug addict in America is a female in her mid-forties, addicted to barbiturates and a benzo-
diazapine,” he stated at that time. The description of negative aspects of commonly
prescribed psychiatric medications above, is taken from his website, http://www.breggin.com.
He exposes the growing propaganda infused into the medical community, including the FDA,
by the pharmaceutical industry, which diminishes, hides, sidesteps or flat out denies the
negative effects of commonly prescribed psychoactive psychiatric drugs. Anyone interested
in alternative information to mainstream Psychiatry would do well to view his website or read
his books listed as footnotes.

All of these are major contributors to the idea that medical drugs are not as harmful as
other drugs, and are legitimate, so those hooked on them are not real addicts. Also a
convenient denial for the Drugoholic themselves. In fact, being 100% pure, it needs to be
stressed they can be worse. Oxycontin, 100% pure from the Doctor, is as bad IF NOT
WORSE, than diluted heroin from the dealer. "I think people of all ages don't take medication
as seriously as street drugs," said Dr. Marvin Seppala, the chief medical officer at Hazelden,
a drug and alcohol treatment center. "There's sort of a naïve belief they're safer. The truth is
pain medications are in the same exact class as heroin, morphine -- they're very addictive."
The same could be said regarding sleeping pills, stimulants, tranquilizers et al. It is similar to
the confusion around alcohol, another socially acceptable drug. Many can drink with
enjoyment and impunity. But once the ominous earmarks of the addictive process begin to
appear, a trained counselor can identify the alcoholic condition years before the final
accelerating deteriorative downward spirals.

Due to the subconscious nature of much denial, and the stigma and ignorance
surrounding the addictive process, those close to the addict are often the most totally blind to
the malady. The fact that Elvis Presley obtained FIVE THOUSAND pills from his Doctors in
his last months was invisible to them and his personal staff. The obvious obscuring and
corrupting interlinked interpersonal influences of fame, power, status and money, as the
deteriorating celebrity surrounds themselves with sycophantic yes men, are a special factor
for the wealthy and those in the public eye. But how many alcoholics leave a complaining
spouse to later marry someone with fewer objections, often an alcoholic themselves?

So now I hope it becomes more evident that addictive processes include prescription
drugs in exactly the same way as with illicit ones, and that celebrities have no exemption
from the identical states of mind and body that occur in these circumstances. Specific
medications may have different social, psychological and physiological results, just as non-
medical drugs may, but the inexorable addictive process will take its toll in similar ways for
the rich and famous, just as the scythe of Drugoholism cuts down the ill-educated poverty
stricken ghetto street addict. In general, only acknowledgement of the addictive condition,
and an individual taking responsibility for seeking and accepting help for it can save a
Drugoholic. If this article helps one person, I deem it a success, though I do of course hope
for more.

Books by Peter Breggin, MD.

1991 - Toxic Psychiatry. 1994 - Talking Back to Prozac. 1998 - Talking Back to Ritalin.
1999 - Your Drug May Be Your Problem. 2001 - The Anti-Depressant Fact Book.
2002 - The Ritalin Fact Book.

Brian Green, c. 2009. Holistic Hypnosis & Hypnotherapy – Los Angeles