The Effects Of Drug Use By Celebrities

Every day we encounter stories of addicted celebrities. It seems like every other day another celebrity dies of a drug overdose. Actors and musicians check into rehabilitation centers or rave about the latest detox diet. What are the effects of drug use by celebrities? I hypothesize that depression, mental instability, overdose, and death are the main effects of drug use in celebrities.

For many celebrities, addiction develops as a family pastime. Anthony Kiedis’ father was a drug dealer, and his father introduced his son to the drug scene. Kiedis’ first experienced with marijuana when he was 12 years old; his father took pictures to commemorate the event. Kiedis’ father steered him into using cocaine and heroin by the age of fourteen. Kiedis thought nothing was unusual about this drug experimentation or his father’s encouragement to experiment. “I didn’t see it as a road to death and insanity, I just saw it as a beautiful, beautiful feeling.” Other celebrities use drugs to escape their family pain. As Robert Downey, Jr. said, “Pick a dysfunction and it’s a family problem.” In his autobiography The Heroin Diaries, Nikki Sixx comments several times that he saw drugs as a way to escape pain and his childhood. “I wish I knew what this hole in my soul is all about. Cause let’s be honest, this isn’t about now, it’s about then,” Sixx said. “I guess maybe the drugs are part of me killing the pain.” Sixx said, “Now my dream is here and I don’t have the tools to undo the damage done to me as a child.” Sixx’ colleagues recognize the role of his unhappy childhood in his later addiction; Bob Timmons comments, “Addictions are just symptoms of underlying issues, and in my view Nikki self-medicated the emotional pain of his childhood.” Sixx al...

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...han creativity. Fame and addiction create a destructive cycle that few escape. Addictions very rarely turn out for the better. The physical and mental changes that addiction causes never disappear. After celebrities pull themselves out of the rabbit hole, they know how to keep themselves out, but don’t always want to stay clean. So, what are the effects of drug use by celebrities? As I proposed, depression, mental instability, overdose, and death are the main effects of drug use in celebrities. They escape through rehabilitation, recovery programs, support from friends, and their own inner strength. As Kiedis says in the song “Californication”, “Destruction leads to a very rough road, but it also breeds creation.” At the end of the rough road of addiction, artists find new creative mediums replacing drugs. Fortunately, for those who escape, they rise from the ashes.