Drug and alcohol addiction and substance abuse, in general, has serious and adverse effects on those who are affected by it. As if this wasn’t bad enough, a lot of other problems and troubles come about from addiction, and just one of them is the effect of the negative addiction stigma that is associated with drug and alcohol abuse and addiction.
The negative addiction stigma makes it very clear that addiction is a terrible thing, but it also makes it look like those who abuse drugs and alcohol are awful people. The concept and the actual “stigma” is about those who do abuse drugs and alcohol as being lesser people. The idea is that drug and alcohol addicts are lower-class individuals and deadbeats and criminals and should be treated as such. The truth is though anyone can fall to the effects of drug and alcohol addiction and substance abuse in general. Selena Gomez’s recent admittance into a rehab center on the East Coast is a perfect example of this.
The truth is, any human being of any demographic, race, ethnicity, cultural background, geographical area, income level, sex, age, intelligence, career field, and backing can become addicted. In fact, a lot of celebrities, people who supposedly live the richest and happiest of lives, end up getting addicted to drugs and alcohol. Listed below are thirty celebrities who suffered from addiction, some of whom died from it, and some of whom rose from it and became better persons because of it.
The idea of this list is to show that addiction can affect anyone differently, and because humans are unique, it is up to the person to do something about their addiction and not let it stigmatize them:
- Drew Barrymore
- Mary-Kate Olsen
- Lindsay Lohan
- Tila Tequila
- Mischa Barton
- Corey Haim
- Jeremy London
- River Phoenix
- David Hasselhoff
- Robert Downey Jr.
- Farrah Fawcett
- Nicole Richie
- Heath Ledger
- Jason Cook
- Macaulay Culkin
- Edie Falco
- Philip Seymour Hoffman
- Charlie Sheen
- Tatum O’Neal
- Johnny Depp
- Ed Harris
- Amy Winehouse
- Jamie Lee Curtis
- Brittany Murphy
- Judy Garland
- Marilyn Monroe
- Anna Nicole Smith
- Edie Sedgwick
- Elizabeth Taylor
- Kirsten Dunst
Rehabilitation as the Ultimate Solution
Stigmatizing drug and alcohol addiction is not going to get anyone anywhere. In fact, it will make things a lot worse. If you tell a person enough times that he or she is a degraded person and a loser, deadbeat, criminal, then that is how he or she will start to act. The fact of the matter is that anyone can become an addict, just like anyone can beat addiction. It only takes some work and some effort.
Drug and alcohol addiction and substance abuse, in general, is a steady and increasingly serious and worrying issue in the United States today. These problems continue on and on and on as the years go by, merely growing in concern and worry as the years tend to go by. Crisis after crisis occurs creating a big issue in the United States with more and more deaths arising from drug and alcohol addiction and substance abuse in general. Studies show that, on average, about eighty to one-hundred thousand Americans die every year because of drug and alcohol addiction, and nearly twenty-five million Americans in the nation are addicted to drugs and alcohol.
Focusing on the Addiction Stigma
With the help of celebrities admitting that they suffered from addiction and that they beat their addiction and with the gradual removal of the stigma connected to addiction, the overall crisis that is real addiction can finally start to relax in severity and intensity. With efforts to increase rehab and reduce addiction stigma, these issues can ultimately become something of the past.
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