by Sally Rosa | Oct 6, 2014 | Drug Addiction
Written By: Fiona Stockard
The Saga of Michael Phelps
Last week, Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps was arrested for drunk driving. That story made me ask the question of whether Michael is an addict and alcoholic.
After all, this isn’t his first run in with the law. He was arrested in 2004 for a DUI. In 2009, an infamous picture of him smoking a bong surfaced. It seems like Michael certainly exhibits some classic alcoholic tendencies. He continues to drink and drug in spite of negative consequences.
Ultimately, the only person who can say if Michael Phelps is an addict or alcoholic is Michael Phelps himself. Well, he may be identifying as one of us sooner than expected.
Michael Phelps Decides to Enter Rehab
On Sunday, October 5th, Michael announced via his twitter that he’d be entering “a program.” Sounds like treatment to me. Good job, Michael! I think that’s a pretty mature decision.
The swimmer tweeted that “…right now I need to focus my attention on me as an individual, and do the necessary work to learn from this experience and make better decisions in the future.” His agency later confirmed that he’d be going into a six-week, inpatient treatment program.
Rock on, Mike! I’d like to applaud your commitment to self growth, even if this is only a public relations move. I entered treatment unwilling and learned a lot of important information. In fact, even though I drank after treatment, seeking help was the first step in my recovery journey.
I wish you nothing but the best, Michael. If you learn you’re an addict and alcoholic, know that there are so many resources out there. You have a ton of fans, many of whom are in recovery themselves, rooting for you. Get help and return to the public eye as a story of inspiration and hope. Show the world, Michael, that we can all get better!
by Sally Rosa | Sep 18, 2014 | Drug Addiction
Robin Thicke: Living The High Life
Singer Robin Thicke hasn’t been having a good couple of years.
Robin became incredibly popular during the summer of 2013, thanks to his blockbuster song “Blurred Lines.” However, it turns out “Blurred Lines” isn’t his song, he was high and drunk all the time, he’s being sued, and his wife divorced him. Tough breaks, Robin.
Isn’t that what happens to active addicts, though? Don’t our lives go to s**t? Okay, yeah, I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s look at just what all this fuss is about.
The Summer of 2013
Depending on how you look at it, summer 2013 was either a great or horrible time for Robin Thicke. “Blurred Lines” toped the pop charts for sixteen weeks. It sold over six million copies. It made Thicke a household name. It was also heavily criticized for promoting rape culture. Oh, and he was high and drunk the entire time.
“I had a drug and alcohol problem for the year [2013] and I didn’t do a sober interview so I don’t recall many things that I said..I didn’t do a single interview last year without being high on both…Every day I woke up, I would take a Vicodin to start the day and then I would fill up a water bottle with Vodka and drink it before and during my interviews,” Thicke admitted during a court deposition.
Damn, Robin! I mean, pills and vodka is always a winning combination, but you seem to have taken it pretty far! Guess what else? Turns out Robin Thicke didn’t even write “Blurred Lines.”
According to Thicke himself, “He [Pharrell, the song’s producer] was very generous by giving me a larger percentage of publishing than I deserved.” Thicke is credited with writing 20% of the hit song. Turns out he wrote very little. His main contribution were the amazing (come on, they were!) vocals.
Thicke’s Court Battle
Okay, a lot happened for Robin Thicke in the summer of 2013. Why’d he come clean about his drug and alcohol use, though? What was he doing giving a legal deposition in the first place?
Well, the family of Marvin Gaye is suing Thicke, Pharrell, and rapper T.I. (all three have publishing credits on “Blurred Lines”). Gaye’s family claims that the three stole major parts of their song from the 1977 hit, “Got To Give It Up.”
Things keep getting worse for Robin Thicke!
So, while giving a deposition, Thicke admitted to heavy drug and alcohol abuse. Is this some sort of legal Hail Mary? Is he trying to evade responsibility by claiming drug abuse rendered him incapable of ripping off Marvin Gaye’s hit? Is he saying he didn’t write much of the song in an attempt to push blame onto Pharrell?
I think the answer is simpler.
What Happens to Addicts When We Use
I started to address this above. When addicts use drugs or alcohol, our lives fall apart. For people like us, drugs and booze bring clouds of suffering. They cause us to make crappy decisions, lie, hurt people, and generally behavior like selfish a*sholes.
Robin’s problem isn’t that he’s a bad person, or that he ripped off a song, or that his wife divorced him (oh, I forgot to mention that. In July, the couple divorced). No, Robin’s problem is that he’s an addict and alcoholic.
He got high for a long time, including during the recording of “Blurred Lines.” Did he steal the song from Marvin Gaye? Who knows. It’s possible, but people engaged in that argument are missing the point. Robin Thicke is a sick and suffering addict. He needs help.
Maybe we can all lay off him for a minute and let Thicke get the help he needs. After all, what do we say at the end of most twelve-step meetings? That’s right – let’s have a moment of silence for the still sick and suffering addict and alcoholic. Let’s all take a moment of silence and hope Robin gets help.
by Sally Rosa | Jul 10, 2014 | Addiction Articles, Drug Addiction
By: Tim Myers
Dear Josh Gordon,
I get it. I understand. I’ve got your back. There’s not a lot of that being said to you right now, in any of the media. There’s not a lot of anything except projection, advice, and doomsday scenario banter. Oh, and all the should of, could of, would of’s. “He should of done this,” “I wish the NFL would of done that,” and “The Browns could of done this.”
I get it, Josh Gordon. I understand and I’ve got your back. You’ve got a problem, Josh. I don’t mean to judge, but based on the staggering facts alone, I’m pretty confident I’m right. Multiple substance abuse violations in college, drug arrests and citations involving marijuana, codeine cough syrup, and alcohol in just the last eighteen months. You’re the premier NFL wide receiver. Yet your substance abuse stats fill the back of your trading card more thoroughly than your career numbers. You have a life and a career anyone would die for, yet you’re dying to give it all away.
I get it, because I did the same thing. So did my best friend, and my uncle, and my grandpa, and my aunt, and millions of people all over the world. We gave up everything so we could have one thing – drugs. Then, one day we decide to give up one thing to have – everything.
Josh, I have the greatest family in the history of the world. I have a college degree, a car, and a great job, but three and a half years ago I decided that snorting cocaine, smoking pot, drinking ‘till I blacked out, driving drunk, and having guns pointed at my head were the most important things in my life.
They were. People like you and I, Josh, have a mental illness. We have a disease. It makes us do crazy things. It makes us feel so incredibly alone and scared that we keep using because no one will ever make us feel as loved and appreciated as drugs do.
That was my life, until one day a man named Chris told me, “Tim, I don’t even know you, but I love you because you’re just like me.” He got me, understood me, and had my back. He told me that I was still alive so I could get sober and help other people stay sober. He showed me how to stay sober and unlocked the enthusiasm, excitement, potential, love, compassion, and determination that drugs and alcohol had held captive for ten years.
Josh, I live in Delray Beach, Florida, a city known to have more residents recovering from drugs and alcohol than any other city in the country. Everyday I see people as lost and hopeless as I once was. Within a few months, I see them alive, laughing, joking, happy, and free! Yet sometimes, I get the tacky, insensitive, sad and all too frequent Facebook notification saying, “RIP Jane Doe, this disease claims another Angel.”
Don’t become one of those angels, Josh. Don’t become another celebrity to shine a light on the death toll of addiction. Become a warrior of recovery! Become the man you were always meant to be.
I was in rehab when Josh Hamilton entered the home-run derby at Yankee Stadium. His long history of crack use had been exposed and talked about in the media for years. In rehab that night, they let us watch the home-run derby. Ball after ball after ball went soaring over the fence as Josh set the single round record for home runs in a home-run derby, at the most historic ballpark ever built! I cried. A lot of the men in my unit cried. It gave us hope. It gave us someone to look up to. Not for what he was doing on the field, but for what he’d off the field.
You can be that guy, Josh. Hell, you already have the same first name so you’re halfway there! You can change other peoples’ lives, Josh, but first you have to change your own. I want to see you in the playoffs. I want to see you catch a touchdown in the Super Bowl. I want to wear your jersey and get your autograph, but not because of what you accomplish on the field. I want to be your biggest fan, for what you achieve off of it. I love you Josh Gordon, because you’re just like me.
I get it. I understand. I’ve got your back.
Love,
All of Us
