When is enough, enough.

Ok so i have something on my mind today that i really need to get off and although I love Roxanne to death she does not always (ok, she never does) have an appreciation for my rants, now this does not have anything to do with being in Penang, other than for me Penang offers me time to think and contemplate. So I look on the front page of "The Sun" this AM to find a tribute to Mrs. Whitney Houston, her tragic death at the age of 48...really..."The shocking news" of her death...really. I am sorry, I feel horrible for her family and everything they have had to endure, I feel bad for her fans, as they are probably the only ones who will know even one song off of her 2009 album "I look to you", except maybe the title track. Mostly I feel bad for Whitney, I mean not to quote one of her own songs, but "didn't she almost have it all" . The last 10 to 15 years of her life have been a train wreck, lets be honest. the failed reality show, a really, really bad marriage, and a really, really, really bad drug problem. I know in our country Politically correct is the norm, but this is not someone we should be crying a great deal of tears for, this death although tragic, is NOT Shocking. I mean come on, she was a crack addict who was on the express train to dying the moment she put the crack pipe in her mouth and could not put it down. I hope that any medical results following her death indicate that she was sober, i really do...anyone want to bet on that though. I'm not! Even if she did leave this world sober the insurmountable damage that she did to her body, most specifically her heart with years of cocaine dependence, was surely going to cause her untimely death. Another celebrity/pop star/rock star dies in a hotel room all alone, not a friend or family around them, and what do we do, "oh she was so beautiful", oh the death of a wonderful talent", No, i am sorry, its the death of a good and talented person who was hijacked by a chemical that eventually took her life, or at least was in some way the cause of it. We have lost many talented people, many REALLY talented people, Mrs. Houston one of them, to the same horrible, CURABLE, condition. Her death will be met with an outpouring of emotion and tributes, however when all that is over we will go back to our lives and think nothing of the cause and the consequence of the loss. Is there ever public outcry for more drug treatment centers, and better techniques and technology, is there ever a call for more research and education...the answer...NO, there is not. Do we open more drug treatment facilities to deal with this growing problem in our country, that even our own government in their infinite wisdom called "an epidemic"...no, no we don't, we take beds from treatment facilities, we take money for programs that attempt to help people dealing with this problem and we force them to the medical profession that uses drugs (more often than not) to deal with a drug problem...that would be like sending a fat person to a bakery to lose weight. Or we send them to Jail/Prison, and as you know there is tremendous education and rehabilitation that goes on there, i think he last recidivism statistic for the state of Florida was like 79% repeat offenders...yep that system is working. So what will we do, this great nation of ours to deal with this "epidemic" that affects every aspect of our society, from celebrities to the hell's kitchen junky...nothing...I'm sorry Mrs. Houston, your death was not a shock to me, it was however tragic, the big book of AA says "There are such unfortunates. They are not at fault". I failed you Mrs. Houston, because as a professional in the field of addictions I should be working smarter, not harder. Your country failed you, because we have a leadership in this country who cares more about what happens in China and Iran than they do in their own backyard...i mean do you really think that President Obama has been to the "bad" part of DC since he was on the campaign trail?? Mit Romney?? oh yeas I'm sure that this trust fund baby knows the plight of the working man, who sees the destruction of his livelihood, his family and his community all at the same time...I saw a commercial on "You Tube" that was broadcast during this years Superbowl, it was about Detroit, and it featured Mr. Clint Eastwood, he talked about how it is "halftime in America" and that we need to decide what we are going to do in the second half. i liked the message and could see the appeal, however the problem is that in that "American Stadium" most of those people are out of work and have no idea when they might find it. most don't have health insurance and no job that will offer it to them, some are homeless, some are hungry and a good deal of them are addicted to some chemical, and are finding it tough to quit....I digress...and Mrs. Houston you failed you, I'm sure with your wealth and fame, you were offered the best treatment money can buy, the top notch specialists in the discipline using the most up to date methods and research, but i don't think anyone of them ever told you the truth, and made you look at yourself, stripped of all your fame and notoriety, because you see Mrs. Houston that crack/cocaine, it never cared who you were, it never mattered, it wanted you dead. Without help, addiction always gets what it wants. We were all a party to the failure that led to your untimely death...I will however continue to do my part in being the solution I can only hope and pray that the rest of our country will wake up and do the same...maybe then we will never again have to say, "she/he died tragically...of their addiction."