Amy Winehouse : 14 September 1983 – 23 July 2011

If you can think of something clever, or deep, or profound to say that explains this, please post it it. I've got nothing. 

For Amy Winehouse, and all the unknown amys that disappear into addiction each year, and all of their families, my heart and prayers go out to you.

Peace.

Hate to say it (well, not really!) but looks like I scooped the NY Times.

The New York Times reporting on the Bath Salts story. Grateful for the coverage, but gotta say, The Interventionist had the story first!

What's next? Celebrity Intervention?

Sure I hated shows like Celebrity Rehab and Intervention! 

What moral and right-minded elder statesman of the Recovery Movement wouldn't? Crude, exploitative, unethical, profit-motivated manifestations of the worst of Schlock TV that they were! I decried them as morbid and voyeuristic, as they depicted addicts and alcoholics at their worst; the perpetuated the stereotype of the addict as the composite of society's phobias and ills.

And also, eminently watchable.

I look back on some of the criticisms I voiced a few years ago and find the little voice inside saying, "lighten up, will you? It's only tv."

And maybe the little voice is right. 

Getting Clean & Sober With Betty

My 'Clean Date' as they say in some 12 Step Fellowships, is Memorial Day 1977. Betty Ford went into the Long Beach Naval Hospital following a family intervention sometime in 1978.

We never met each other, but in a sense, we got sober together. While I may have had a few months on Betty, in terms of time, it's safe to say that she definitely had me beat flat in terms of accomplishment!

Before Betty went public with her addiction and recovery, there was very little said about the subject in the media, and what was said was much more likely to be negative, than not. Alcoholism was portrayed as comical or tragic; drug addicts were social degenerates. Recovery was unknown territory, and very few Americans had the least idea how it worked. There were a small handful of individuals who had gone public with their recovery, but they were generally considered a freak show--Hollywood people, show biz types. Certainly not a First Lady, wife of the President of the United States.

And a good Republican, as well!

Betty turned on the lights, opened the closet door, and coaxed addiction and alcoholism out of the closet. She identified the elephant in the living room, pointed out that the Emperor's New Clothes were seriously lacking in taste, and above all, made it safe for thousands of middle-class people to talk about their problems and okay for them to seek help.

And she did it clean and sober and with style, grace and her trademark candor. 

So, RIP to my fellow 70's graduate from the school of hard knocks, or as the old-timers used to say, 'John Barleycorn University'. I am grateful to have gotten sober during the 'Betty Ford Era'.

I would have voted for you for President.

New Synthetic Marijuana Arrives to Replace Spice, K2 | The Fix

A bunch of states restrict or ban a product that gets people high; its manufacturers make a few changes in the compound, and a new substance is created, perfectly legal.

Maybe it's time to get away from Prohibition era 'war on drugs' thinking, and look instead at what we need to due to help cure our addiction prone society!

New Synthetic Marijuana Arrives to Replace Spice, K2 | The Fix