Pubdate: Tue, 28 Feb 2012
Source: Aurora Sentinel (CO)
Copyright: 2012 Aurora Sentinel
Contact:  http://www.aurorasentinel.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1672
Author: Michael Reagan

WHITNEY'S DEATH SHOULD BE A LESSON

Another tremendously talented American who had riches and fame beyond
most people's dreams has killed herself with drugs. Whitney Houston's
life was wrecked and cut tragically short at 48 because she became
mired in the self-destructive hell of drug use.

In the late 1970s my birth brother was living in L.A. and working as a
writer on "Laverne & Shirley," the number one-rated TV show in the
country. It was pretty heady stuff for a 21-year-old kid from Ohio. I
remember him telling me how cocaine and other drugs were becoming
increasingly popular with the creative crowd in Hollywood at the time.
He had more money than God and he found himself facing a tough choice:
Put his money up his nose like everyone else or leave town. He chose
to leave. Many other young people we know never made the right choice
with drugs and their lives ended like Houston's. Sunday night at the
Academy Awards, Hollywood will be handing out Oscars to its brightest
stars. At some point, tears will be shed for Whitney Houston. She will
be remembered, as she should be, for her great singing. But you can
bet your favorite movie star's Malibu beach house that the drug
lifestyle that sent Houston to an early grave will be conveniently
forgotten. Instead of pretending its chronic drug problem doesn't
exist, or acting like choosing drugs is simply another lifestyle
choice, Hollywood needs to take a strong stand against drug use.
Illegal and legal. The Academy Awards this weekend would be a good
place to start doing the right thing. As an industry, Hollywood needs
to start saying "No" to drugs. Baseball is saying "No." Pro football
is saying "No." Cycling, for Pete's sake, is saying "No." In the '80s
my stepmother Nancy was saying "No." In the '70s my 21-year-old birth
brother had the sense to say "No." Isn't it time for Hollywood and the
rest of the entertainment industry to clean itself up? Dr. Drew does
what he can, but he can save only one celebrity drug addict at a time.

Hollywood needs to do more than cry at funerals. It could do so much
more in the fight against drugs if its grownups had the guts to use
Hollywood's enormous cultural influence for good (for a change). Where
are the Public Service Announcements, Mr. Spielberg or Ms. Jolie? Why
aren't Hollywood's best and brightest cranking out anti-drug PSAs? Why
do we only hear people like Tony Bennett calling for the legalization
of drugs? The answer is not to legalize drugs, it's to get people to
stop using them.

Come on, Hollywood, come together. For all of us, help "Stop the
Madness" now. Speak as an industry with one voice: "No more drugs." I
grew up in Hollywood as the son of an Academy Award-winning actress.
My mother Jane Wyman lived to be 90, dammit.

I want all the young talent to have the same opportunity my mother and
so many others have had. I'm tired of watching our Michael Jacksons,
Heath Ledgers and Whitney Houstons die young because of drugs. The
list goes on: Elvis, Chris Farley, John Belushi, and so many more. As
a country we must stop glossing over the tragedy of drug abuse. We
should learn a lesson and work on the solution..

Michael Reagan is the son of President Ronald Reagan, a political
consultant, and the author of "The New Reagan Revolution" (St.
Martin's Press, 2011). He is the founder and chairman of The Reagan
Group and president of The Reagan Legacy Foundation.
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