I know guys are not supposed to admit this but I think Whitney Houston’s music is beautiful. She possessed one of the greatest voices I have ever heard. She could carry a note alongside any great opera singer.

In the end, unfortunately, Whitney became just another Hollywood drug tragedy.

Drowns in Bathtub

Houston drowned alone in a bathtub having accidentally overdosed on a cocktail of prescription drugs and alcohol after two back-to-back evenings of out-of-control binges.

The star was found dead by her bodyguard in a luxury hotel suite said to have been littered with bottles of prescription pills. She was 48.

Paramedics battled to revive the singer but she was pronounced dead at 3.55pm yesterday afternoon, hours before she had been due to perform at a pre-Grammys party at the Beverly Hills Hilton in Los Angeles.

Bottles of Lorazepam, Valium, Xanax and a sleeping medication were found in the hotel room. The drugs were believed to have acted as sedatives, causing her to fall asleep in the bathtub once they had been mixed with alcohol from the previous evenings.

As police look into the possibility that the star died from an accidental overdose, there are expected to be emotional scenes at the Grammy awards tonight with many of the singers inspired by Miss Houston dedicating their awards to her.

Addiction to Crack Cocaine

Houston had battled ravaging addictions to crack cocaine over the years but the drug is not believed to have played a part in her death.

Her frantic daughter Bobbi Kristina, 19, is understood to have got into a 'furious screaming argument' with authorities who refused to let her into the hotel room to see the body of her dead mother.

Houston's body remained at the hotel today where her family, including her daughter were paying their last respects. Last night around 800 guests attended a pre-Grammys dinner at the hotel where Miss Houston died.

Outside, fans gathered to mourn the star, leaving floral tributes and lighting candles.

It is not known if the destructive spiral played a part in death of the I Will Always Love You singer who had spent more than a decade battling an addiction to crack cocaine since rising to international stardom in the early 90s.

As the singer's body lay on the fourth floor, stars including Britney Spears, Tony Bennett and Kim Kardashian were taking part in the pre-Grammy Awards party at the hotel.

News of the death brought a string of public tributes from the music industry today. Simon Cowell said Houston was a 'true diva' with 'one of the best voices I have heard in my life ever'.

Rihanna tweeted that she was 'in tears' while Mariah Carey said that she was 'heartbroken' over the loss of her friend.

Her ex-husband Bobby Brown - whom Houston blamed partly for her drug issues - was said to be 'in and out of crying fits' upon hearing the news - but still appeared on stage on Saturday with his band New Edition, and cried out 'I love you, Whitney!' in the middle of the concert.

Singer Johnny Gill, one of Brown's New Edition bandmates, is on tour in Memphis with the star. ‘Bobby is struggling and he's devastated,’ he told CNN.

Houston won six Grammy awards, two Emmys, 30 Billboard Music Awards, and 22 American Music Awards, among others awards.

But the star's life had spiraled downhill since her early hits. She suffered a long battle with drugs, including cocaine, as well as alcohol and spent various spells in rehab.

Recent appearances had become increasingly erratic and the years of substance abuse had clearly taken a toll.

Her powerful voice began to suffer because of her demons prompting record sales to nosedive and in 2007 she split from husband Bobby Brown after 15 years of marriage.

Drugs are evil. They never create, they only destroy.

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk

An often forgotten segment of the population when it comes to substance abuse is senior citizens. Perhaps it is because people think they are “older and wiser,” and would not be addicted to chemical substances. That certainly is not always the case.

Part of the Problem

Seniors, who often take multiple medications prescribed by different doctors, are at risk for prescription drug abuse and may be subject to overdose and interaction side effects from those medications.

People aged 65 and older comprise 13 percent of the U.S. population, yet account for a third of the population using prescription drugs, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Nearly 20 percent of the 125 unintentional prescription drug deaths last year in Montgomery County, Maryland were people age 55 and older.

Some of those deaths were accidental but others were not so benign, said Russel Falck, a Wright State associate professor.

More Stats                                         

Between 1997 and 2008 the rate of U.S. hospital admissions for conditions related to prescription medication and illicit drug use grew by 96 percent for people ages 65 to 85, and increased 87 percent for people age 85 and older, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Seniors abusing controlled substances, either prescription or off the street, represent a very small percentage of our elderly population, nevertheless, they are there and many need help.

Overdose deaths from prescription painkillers have skyrocketed in the past decade and are a public health epidemic, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. One in 20 people in the U.S., ages 12 and older, used prescription painkillers without a prescription or just for the “high” they cause in 2010, the CDC said.

The use of narcotic pain relievers such as OxyContin and oxycodone has increased nearly 1,000 percent on a per capita basis since 1997, said Orman Hall, director of the Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services.

About 80 percent of seniors have at least one chronic health condition and 50 percent have at least two, according to SAMHSA.

The use of multiple medications, or “polypharmacy,” can increase a person’s risk for bad interactions and unintended side effects, especially in older patients who metabolize drugs differently than younger people.

Taking opioids for pain in conjunction with benzodiazepine drugs such as Xanax and Valium for sleep or anxiety disorders can be a dangerous combination. Nearly 60 percent of Montgomery County’s (Ohio) unintentional prescription drug deaths last year involved a combination of opioids and benzodiazepines.

Education is important. Seniors are becoming more technologically proficient and I think a good online drug class.

You may have heard this question before, but how many people do you know currently taking benzodiazepines? Because they are taken in pill form, odds are people all around you are taking them and you don’t know it.  I would venture to guess two or three of your acquaintances are using this prescription medication.

This is part of our blog series on addictive drugs. But what exactly are benzodiazepines and are they addictive?  Benzodiazepines are psychoactive drugs whose effects include acting as a sedative, hypnotic (sleep-inducing), anxiolytic (anti-anxiety), anticonvulsant, muscle relaxant and amnesic action. These properties make benzodiazepines useful in treating anxiety, insomnia, agitation, seizures, muscle spasms, alcohol withdrawal and as a premedication for medical or dental procedures.

Benzodiazepines are categorized as either short-, intermediate- or long-acting. Short- and intermediate-acting benzodiazepines are preferred for the treatment of insomnia; longer-acting benzodiazepines are recommended for the treatment of anxiety.

I can tell you from experience that I have known hundreds of alcoholics who give up alcohol and then become very addicted to benzodiazepines.

How addictive are they?

How about as addictive as tobacco and barbiturates?  An article in The Lancet compared the harm and addiction of 20 drugs, using a scale from 0 to 3 (with three being the most addictive substances like heroin) for physical addiction, psychological addiction, and pleasure to create a mean score for addiction.  Benzos scored 1.8 the same as two drugs previously mentioned in terms of physical addiction.  Benzodiazepines scored a 2.1 for psychological dependence, more than amphetamines and barbiturates and just less than tobacco.

Chlordiazepoxide (Librium) was the first benzodiazepine produced. Diazepam (Valium) was the next to be developed and until the early 1980s this was the most widely prescribed tranquillizer in the world. Today, newer benzodiazepines such as alprazolam (Xanax) and lorazepam (Ativan) account for most tranquillizer prescriptions.

While they no doubt hold some medicinal value, they are highly addictive and should be used in only extreme cases, and then only the care and guidance of a doctor with a strong knowledge of your personal health history.

How many people drugs kill every year, I assure you the problem is bad and getting worse.

In 1979 the U.S. Government began tracking drug-related deaths and for the first time those deaths have surpassed the number of traffic fatalities on an annual basis.

The most recent statistics, taken in 2009, show that 36,284 people died in traffic related accidents while 37,485 people died from drug related activities in a one year period.

For those of you who read this blog regularly you know the primary culprit is prescription drugs, not street illegal drugs.  Some of the medications causing these deaths include Xanax, OxyContin and the main culprit Vicodin which killed more people than cocaine and heroin combined.

The primary lethal drug in the United States is literally right under our noses – on the bathroom sink or in the medicine cabinet.

The study also revealed that traffic related fatalities have actually fallen by a third since the 1970s even as the number of drivers using American roadways continues to increase, while drug related deaths have doubled in the last decade. Deaths among the 50-year-old to 69-year-old crowd have been even worse, tripling during the same time period.

Not all deaths have been related to drug overdoses from drug abuse, in many cases double dosing by adults has been the culprit.

In the meantime parents are urged to speak with their kids not just about street illegal drugs but also the medications found in medicine cabinets which can be just as addictive and just as deadly.

Perhaps a good online drug awareness class is in order.