Betty Ford of course led the nation in bringing addiction, especially that of the pill popping bored suburban housewives, to the attention of the nation and founded one of the first comprehensive rehab clinics named after her. It was a national epidemic. She died in her 90s surrounded by a loving family.
Amy Winehouse died also- it seems even before hitting puberty. And we can't get away from the press about it while Betty Ford who died in dignity got a passing obit and no one seems really preoccupied by it.
The attention paid to one death seems disproportionate to the massive slaughter we are doing in far away lands to preserve our 'national interests.' One rocker chic, with an act laden with
herion dazed psychobabble reminiscent of keith richards on a binge gets more press than all the dead people in Afghanistan and Iraq put together. Something very perverse about that.
While no one should malign the dead, one should draw a few lessons. It's not good to teach your kids that it is all right to get high. They could die. No, Auntie Em. we are not in Kansas anymore. Real drugs wreak real havoc on people's bodies. Sometimes there is a tipping point.
Drugs are slow suicide. Address the underlying malaise.
http://www.spinner.com/2011/08/01/amy-winehouse-drugs/?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl2%7Csec1_lnk3%7C82626
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