Pubdate: Wed, 17 Jul 2013
Source: Edmonton Journal (CN AB)
Copyright: 2013 The Edmonton Journal
Website: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/134
Page: A16

FAME NO CURE FOR ADDICTION

Young men and women with extraordinary talent are rare. For
extraordinary talent to find its way to the top is even rarer.

That's really the defining message of Glee, the hit television series
that elevated young Canadian actor Cory Monteith to Hollywood stardom
and seemed, in the process, to grant him a reprieve from long
struggles with substance abuse. But Monteith's death this past weekend
is another instance where comforting TV fantasy meets ugly reality.

Time is unconquerable, as Auden warns us, time will always have his
fancy with us, tomorrow or today, but when it comes to young people,
any parent's fervent hope would be to forestall tomorrow for as long
as possible.

Monteith's death, triggered by a toxic mix of heroin and alcohol,
recalls the sadly truncated lives of Heath Ledger and River Phoenix,
all of them talented actors who battled substance abuse and died far
too young.

The autopsy report by the B.C. Coroners Service was sobering
confirmation of speculation concerning Monteith's past alcohol and
drug addiction that had run rampant since he was found dead Saturday
at the Vancouver Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel. The 31-year-old actor who
played heartthrob Finn Hudson, the good-natured singing quarterback on
Glee, had always been open about his struggles with substance abuse,
which dated back to a troubled youth in Victoria, where his family
moved from Calgary when he was two years old. He had sought help for
unspecified substance addiction earlier this year and had also been
treated in a facility at age 19.

Indeed, Monteith's openness about this dark corner of his life, and
his determination to use his Hollywood fame to help homeless people
and at-risk youth on the West Coast, were among the most admirable
qualities, according to mourning friends and family.

It's worth remembering that for every celebrity death tainted with
addiction there are thousands whose deaths do not make the front page.
The toll claimed by substance abuse and addiction remain largely taboo
topics in this society.

About 11 per cent of Canadians have a problem with alcohol or drug
abuse, according to a recent study published in the Canadian Journal
of Psychiatry.

The rates of addiction are highest in the Western provinces, with a
13-per-cent prevalence rate reported here in Alberta. It is estimated
that 60 per cent of illicit drug users in Canada are between the ages
of 15 and 24.

His many fans, friends and family should celebrate Monteith for what
he was, and what he tried to become. But for the sake of everyone who
lives too hard and dies too young, we shouldn't let the loss of a
rising Canadian star blind us to the true cause of his tragic death.
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MAP posted-by: Matt