StingingVelvet: The point is when a celebrity overdoses people are nice and understanding about it. When an inner-city kid dies from overdose people don't bat an eye or question his prison record. Let's understand what addiction is across the board and treat it the right way for everyone.
Zurvan7: This is not the case for everyone so please stop generalizing. My niece works with people who are recovering from addiction (since her own father was a heavy user for years) and I volunteer there as well. There are kids who are 14 that are addicted to chemicals like glue, there are single mothers that inject heroine. Just last week there was a homeless dude that almost died in the metro with a needle in his hand. We help these people recover, find jobs again, function in society, find them shelter and home, find foster parents for their kids. It's not an easy thing and recovering from addiction takes months and years. If you suddenly stop injecting an addict, he/she probably will die in 2 days of pain. So it's not about a celeb being an addict that we have to feel bad for him/her (as I mentioned everyone dies). Even if they ever stop inject chemicals, they still have to take other meds (like pain killers) to calm them down.
He chose his own life style and died, and just saying let's understand and treat them won't do anything. If you want to help out, go to an AA meeting and hear their stories...
I'm with StingingVelvet here. There's a definite double standard at play. Sure, not everybody thinks that way, but he is much more likely to be remembered for things other than the drug overdose than somebody who wasn't a successful and famous actor.
