Cocaine Addiction in Show Business Today: Are Secret Addictions Still There?

The tragic deaths of Michael Jackson and Billy Mays were obviously two of the most significant parts of the onslaught of notable deaths in the summer of 2009. Nevertheless, those two were furthered examples of how drugs are still the culprit behind untimely demises of notables during a time when Hollywood mostly shuns drugs during working or even sleeping hours. It's bad enough when a star gets addicted to prescription drugs as the result of the pressures of keeping a career going and having more than one doctor who doesn't know what the other is prescribing. Once it goes beyond that into harder drugs, however, it prolongs a major problem that most of us thought was long over in Tinseltown.

With the controversial autopsy of Billy Mays showing evidence of cocaine use, it might be telling us that secret and lightweight addictions are still happening there behind everybody's backs in order to keep up with increasing demands in show business.

Based on that Mays autopsy, it appeared he only took cocaine occasionally, undoubtedly to either keep his energy up or as a combination of that and controlling his reported physical pain. For whatever reason, Mays didn't think having a small amount of cocaine would be enough to kill him. Unfortunately, it always does in time, especially if you already have high blood pressure or a heart condition. Then you have to think about the energy level he had to maintain doing his pitches on TV, during touring trade shows and on his new TV show "Pitchmen." The pressures were immense to get where he was, and the fact remains that natural energy can only do so much in such a scenario.

Should you want to consider this a dangerous evolution of career demands in show business, then it ultimately gives connotations that priorities need resetting in those chasing the American Dream. Otherwise, insane pressures and demands are going to create a new generation of notables who can't resist taking a hard drug through the most clandestine means in order to maintain the demands of their careers.

Certainly those of us who grew up in the 70's or 80's and not living anywhere near Tinseltown were naïve to the more open realities of that in the show business world. Unless you knew people who worked there in those days, most of us kids didn't know cocaine was freebased openly in every nook and cranny of Hollywood's populace. Of course, those of us naïve to it didn't find this out until later when all the tales started to be told of every movie and TV star snorting enough cocaine on a daily basis to incite a million coronaries. And, as we know, many did die while, conversely, many survived to later tell us the truth of how insane the entertainment industry had become by the 70's and early 80's.

Then, by the 90's, Hollywood finally cleaned up its act. When stars such as Robert Downey, Jr. or similarly drug-addicted stars couldn't hide their addictions to cocaine or meth any more, they were generally fired from the set of a film or TV series. Well, except for aforementioned Downey who happened to get a reprieve because he had untapped talent. For everybody else, though, the message was sent loud and clear that Hollywood no longer tolerated drug use anywhere near a production studio's gates.

Methods of secrecy then became the new form of mastery for those who continued to walk that fine line...
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It doesn't have to be mentioned that a certain segment of younger Hollywood decided to delve into the world of drugs in recent years without necessarily using cocaine. Other drugs that gave a high without causing probable death were brought to their world, despite it happening during off-hours rather than on the set of a TV show or movie. Or, at least that's what we we're led to believe through rags or through the brutal truths of the stars themselves who don't care if their public knows what they do in their private lives. What isn't known are the great lengths taken to cover up serious drug use that eventually leads to a disaster nobody saw coming.

After the deaths of Michael Jackson and Billy Mays, we've seen plenty of evidence now that it's very easy for a notable person to keep going with their careers and not show a single sign they're addicted to hard or prescription drugs. It used to be that when you were addicted to any drug, close friends and family would eventually see the true signs, usually leading to personal intervention. Jackson, of course, managed to fool all of his public on how addicted he was to prescription drugs, except for his closest friends who knew the reality. Mays is the eeriest example of being able to show a good portion of his life and career on a cable TV show and still not show a single hint he was taking cocaine.

Well, some might say that his hyperactive barker style of selling OxyClean and Orange Glo was enough evidence. Yet his obvious ethical code in living the American Dream came through loud and clear on his "Pitchmen" reality show on Discovery Channel. Even on a "Pitchmen" memorial show for Mays, we saw evidence of a great family man and hard-working individual who lived clean.

And all of these things still stand despite giving us clues into how many notable people in pop culture could be taking the new route into drug use: Using smaller amounts as a method of providing boosts without it becoming immediately dangerous.

We've also seen a new abyss developing in obtaining the American Dream. The work level that now has to be done to achieve the highest pedestal has arguably become too demanding for any human being to muster without the aid of a stimulant. It's a process that should have ended long ago when the old studio system forced their biggest moneymaker stars (e.g. Judy Garland) to keep cranking out movies at a feverish pace or face career ruin. Then the torch was merely passed on years later to entertainment management companies who work their clients too hard for benefit of massive profit.

If those currently overworked stars are secretly addicted to cocaine or other drugs as rags sometimes insinuate, then a whole new drug era has arrived in Hollywood that can only stop with personal awareness of their actions as most seemingly still do. But with the achievement of the American Dream becoming a near 24/7 process, just saying no in the entertainment world will seem as archaic as it did in the 70's before the Reagan era phrase even existed.

Sources:

www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hgD7fmgR6M4BDoANnCi4eq6xwo9QD99UJPG80

www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/health/2009/08/14/2009-08-14_shock_over_billy_mays_cocaine_use_prompts_questions_of_celebrities_and_drugs.html