Dr. David Stidham was a young, handsome graduate of Harvard Medical School when he moved his family to Tucson, Arizona, to become a partner in an eye surgery clinic for children. His patients and their parents adored him, and he was so successful that he planned to open a solo practice. On October 4, 2004, Dr. Stidham’s body was found in his office parking lot. He had been stabbed 16 times in what police believed was a random act of violence.
Each year, the nonprofit organization Entertainment Industries Council (EIC), in collaboration with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), hosts a prestigious award ceremony for the entertainment industry unlike any other. EIC’s Prism Awards acknowledge works of cinema and other performing arts media for realistically depicting experiences of substance abuse, addiction, and mental disorders. Nominees for the awards are meticulously screened by a panel of 80 judges consisting of entertainment industry professionals and medicine, mental health, and addiction specialists who not only critique the nominations based on entertainment quality, but also on their ability to accurately represent substance abuse and mental health issues.
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Over the past five years the number of drug users in Afghanistan has increased from 920,000 to over 1.5 million, the spokesman of the Ministry of Counter-Narcotics (MCN), Zalmai Afzali, told IRIN.
Pop superstar Beyoncé and her mother, Tina Knowles, came to Brooklyn last week to announce the funding and opening of the Beyoncé Cosmetology Center, which provides a seven-month cosmetology course for recovering addicts.
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Drug addicts will lie and tell you anything they think you want to hear, or that they feel they have to say at the moment. This isn’t a fantasy. It’s a fact. Even the most docile, mild-mannered, unassuming person can’t control what comes out of their mouth once they’re in the grip of addiction. Just because you’ve known the person all your life, are married to him or her, doesn’t matter. In the fierce hold of their habit, the addict has lost touch with reality and all that goes with it. As a concerned loved one, friend, or coworker, there’s something you need to know. Caution: you’re entering the drug addict’s spin zone.
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Aerosmith guitarist Brad Whitford told rockradio.com that he believes singer Steven Tyler is still struggling with a drug problem.
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Scientists have discovered that a reward chemical in the brain plays a key role in choices such as where to go on vacation. The neurotransmitter dopamine, which helps transmit signals between nerve cells, is linked to reward-seeking behavior, and generates pleasant feelings that are associated with sex, food, and drug addiction.
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Melanie Griffith, back in rehab for the third time since 1988, knows the challenges of getting and staying sober all too well. People Magazine’s Eunice Oh writes that her third stint marks what has been an on-again, off-again battle with addiction for the past three decades.