Another Untimely Overdose

By now, most of you have heard about the overdose death of actor, Phillip Seymour Hoffman. On Sunday, like too many others before him, Hoffman stuck a heroin needle in his arm for the last time. It always seems to come as a shock when a successful celebrity goes down this tragic path. But just as tragic, we know there will be others who will follow.

What amazed me the most in the Hoffman death was how quickly his drug suppliers were found and arrested. He dies on Sunday and, by Tuesday night, four drug dealing suspects are behind bars. Funny how urgent these things become when a high profile celebrity is involved.

And although I'm no advocate for drug dealers, I find it a bit disingenuous that Hoffman is being made out to be an unsuspecting victim in his own death. Sure, the dealers sold him the drugs. But did they hold a gun to his head and make him do the drugs? In my opinion, Hoffman put the gun to his own head when he decided to plunge that needle into his arm.

Don't mistake my comments as being cold and callous. That's not my point at all. I do think it's tragic that an Oscar-winning actor and a father of three children loses his life in such a senseless way. But we are all given choices in life. Unfortunately, some of them, as in Hoffman's case, have dire consequences.

According to CDC statistics as of 2010, the drug overdose is the leading cause of death among Americans between the ages of 25 and 64. The saddest part is that the overall numbers seem to be trending upward. In the roughly 38,000 overdose deaths in 2010, 60% of them involved pharmaceuticals (aka prescription drugs). Pain killers account for about 75% of these.

Breaking down the demographics, the most probable candidate for an overdose death is a male between the ages of 45-49. Phillip Seymour Hoffman was 46.

We've all known a friend, acquaintance or even a family member who has had his/her life destroyed by drugs. When someone surrenders his life to a bottle of pills, a crack pipe or heroin needle, it's never easy to understand. However, when a famous Hollywood actor succumbs to these vices, there seems to be an exaggerated urgency to comprehend how something like this could ever happen. We gotta round up the drugs dealers, we gotta see what drove him to this, we gotta understand what he was going through, etc..

Why didn't we seem to care when the same thing happened 38,000 times before?

kw