Sunday, June 28, 2009

DRUG ABUSE IN AMERICA

We are here
to learn to love.

Before we get to today's topic and update on Michael Jackson's new autopsy, I would like to take a moment to say that I'm in shock at the news this morning that Billy Mays died. He is the OxyClean pitchman. My son happens to love his Discovery Channel show "Pitchmen." He was only 50.

Mays was one of the passengers aboard a plane that blew a tire and landed very roughly at Tampa International Airport yesterday. He told a local FOX affiliate he was hit on the hard on the head by falling items. Apparently he told his wife he didn't feel well when he went to bed.

So far, in the recent past we've lost: Paul Newman, Heath Ledger, Natasha Richardson, David Carradine, Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson, Anna Nicole Smith, James Baker Hall, poet, Kentucky Laureate; Bob May (Robot from Lost in Space) Huey Long (The Ink Spots, 105 years old!) ....who else? Please leave comments.

I still can't get over the death of John Ritter, Walter Matthau, Jack Lemon or Peter Sellers!

And of course, my sweet brother. I had a dream about him not long ago — and he was totally healed, radiant as if he had been put back together. I had never dreamed about him since he died. But this dream was so real, I reached out and said "You're healed. Your heart is healed. You look great, you're alive!" And he grinned and said, "Yes, I'm fine now."

I had found his body on December 1, 1995. This was more than a dream.


Doesn't this make you think that life is precious? There is so much to see and do, so much beauty in the world. It sounds cliche, but we have to make the most of every single day, every moment. Grab life and live your dreams. Do what you really want to do in your heart.
I do not believe in death, I really think we are here to learn to love.

Go for your dreams. Cherish your loved ones. Find the gifts inside you and use them now. Life is short, art is long.
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DEA RENEWS WARNINGS ON PRESCRIPTION DRUG ABUSE.



Update: Jackson family wanted to admit Michael to drugs clinic two weeks ago as he was danger to himself. New Fox Report: Michael's second autopsy reveals he was mixing various drugs: Demerol, Vicodin, Oxycontin, Dilaudid, and more...

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Amid questions about the possible role of drugs in Michael Jackson's demise, the US Drug Enforcement Administration Friday renewed concerns about rising deaths from misuse of prescription pills.

It warned that more people died from drug abuse than in shootings, and in the category of accidental deaths it came only second to car accidents.

The overuse of prescription pain-killers, stimulants or tranquilizers — either opium-based or synthetically manufactured — is on the rise in the United States.

In 2005, the last year for which figures are available, there were more than 8,500 deaths nationwide, an increase of 114 percent on 2001.

Hospital admissions due to an overdose of such drugs leapt 74 percent from 2002 to 2006, and emergency room visits were up 39 percent, the DEA said.

Most of those needing treatment were aged between 18 to 25, the agency added, and said that between 2003 to 2007 some six percent of Americans in that age group had admitted using prescription drugs for non-medical uses. http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j5swrIt6MmiD52e27apQjYRr24SQ
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MORE ON MICHAEL JACKSON:

Michael Jackson's family were so concerned about his addiction to powerful painkillers they considered forcibly admitting him to a rehabilitation clinic just two weeks before he died.

The plan - which would have involved psychiatrists trying to convince a judge he was a danger to himself and others - was abandoned only because of Jackson's resistance, and the overwhelming pressure to fulfil his concert commitments in London.

Instead, he agreed to consult a controversial therapist known as 'Doc Hollywood' and to allow a 'sober coach' to accompany him to Britain, to stay with him constantly to try to wean him off drugs. By CAROLINE GRAHAM Daily Mail, UK

Go for your dreams. Cherish your loved ones. Find the gifts inside you and use them now. Life is short, art is long.


Today's quote: “Fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity.” George Carlin