Pax Prentiss makes $2,500 (U.S.) a week hobnobbing with the rich and famous. He sleeps with them, eats with them, reads their mail and flips through their underwear drawers. His qualifications? For six years, he was addicted to heroin and cocaine. In the New Hollywood, where business and pleasure no longer mix, the latest must-have for those who have too much of everything is a sobriety coach paid to keep you on the straight and narrow. For a sobriety coach, or "clean-living assistant", the workday is 24/7. After a night camping out in the bedroom of a troubled star, mornings begin with meditation or a motivational workout. Then, after a healthy, presumably whole-grain breakfast, the coach accompanies the star to the set, where he or she is a shadowy yet constant presence at the star's side throughout the shooting day. [continues 828 words]
Americans are compassionate people. From the very creation of our country, our founders were clear that we are a nation committed to helping people live productive, creative, free lives. Our Declaration of Independence sets that out: Americans are entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. When we see someone with a tragic drug addiction, someone whose life and liberty have been forfeited to the enslavement of a drug addiction, our instincts are to help. We rightly want to help them heal, help them get their lives back on track. [continues 628 words]
I hope young people are paying attention to the Darryl Strawberry case. People like Darryl Strawberry (or Robert Downey Jr., etc.) have more willpower, discipline and determination than most of us can even imagine in order to get to the tops of their fields. And yet, once the drugs take hold, all of that willpower, discipline and determination mean nothing. I'm sure there are some young people out there today thinking about trying drugs, and they're saying to themselves, "If I start to get hooked, I can always stop." Well, look at Darryl and think again. Then instead of lighting up that crack pipe, maybe just say a little prayer for Darryl, and while you're at it, thank God that it's not you. Sam Shaffer, Mission Viejo [end]
"Sober companions" help ensure that a concert tour or movie shoot goes off without a hitch by keeping artists from their addictions. As partygoers circled around, Tim Tankosic watched a beautiful woman expertly smuggle a pack of drugs to the movie star. It was exactly the kind of temptation that Tankosic, a highly paid "sober companion," was hired to ward off. Soft-spoken and cerebral, with a homey, unaffected air, Tankosic prefers to see himself as a motivational helper rather than a drug cop, so he was relieved when the actor handed him the unused drugs as they left the party--no hassle, no fuss. [continues 2313 words]
BIG FLATS -- The culture of violence, low coffee prices, the geography and the demand for drugs all over the world contribute to the drug problem in Colombia, retired Corning Community College professor Joe Vikin said Wednesday night during a Great Decisions lecture. The eight-part series at CCC Airport Corporate Park continued with Vikin's speech, "Colombia and Drug Trafficking." Vikin is a native of Colombia who became a U.S. citizen 48 years ago. The Great Decisions program was begun by the Foreign Policy Association, based in New York City, in 1954. [continues 335 words]
March 20, 2002 -- INDIO, Calif. - A judge gave Robert Downey Jr. rave reviews yesterday for his efforts to kick drugs, as the troubled actor took a major step toward completing court-ordered rehab. Riverside County Judge Randall D. White could end Downey's rehab on July 19 or keep him in the program for up to six more months. "It looks like you're doing well. I'm pleased to see that," White told Downey yesterday after reviewing a favorable probation report of the actor's work in rehab. "Good work." [continues 253 words]
LOS ANGELES - Robert Downey Jr., still recovering from drug problems that led to his arrest more than a year ago, has signed on to star in a film based on the popular British miniseries The Singing Detective. The film, being financed by Mel Gibson's Icon Productions, is to begin shooting in April, Downey's publicist, Alan Nierob, said. Downey has turned down several other offers while undergoing drug rehabilitation therapy, Nierob said. [end]
A youth walking home from school last May is accosted by several juvenile males who hold a gun to his head and make threats before letting him go. - - Police arrest six juvenile males ages 14-17 found lurking in an alley near an alternative high school this month. One boy is found in possession of a Tec .22 caliber, semi-automatic weapon. Others are armed with knifes. - - Five teens between ages of 13 and 16 are arrested in August for assaulting a drive and stealing his car at gunpoint. [continues 2619 words]
I hate the drug trade for personal reasons. As far as I'm concerned, every mind-altering substance imaginable conspired to turn my old neighborhood in West Philadelphia into a scene straight out of "Night of the Living Dead." There's nothing redeeming about any substance that systematically strips people of their ambition, their common sense and their link to humanity. I've seen up close what drugs and alcohol can do. I have friends who once believed they were immune to their pernicious effects. Some are still alive, some aren't. [continues 681 words]
Dean Becker: The greatest evil of drug prohibition is the collusion of our government. The participants of the New York Times Drug Policy Forum are proud to present the second in our ongoing series of panels: "The Indictment of Prohibition Panel": Superior Court Judge James P. Gray, Nobel Laureate Milton Friedman, Canadian Barrister Eugene Oscapella and Author Catherine Austin Fitts. Judge Jim Gray's Website http://www.judgejimgray.com/ More about Judge Gray http://www.mapinc.org/people/Judge+Gray Read about Nobel prize winning economist Milton Friedman at http://www-hoover.stanford.edu/bios/friedman.html More at http://www.mapinc.org/people/Milton+Friedman "Who would believe," Friedman asks, "that a democratic government would pursue for eight decades a failed policy that produced tens of millions of victims and trillions of dollars of illicit profits for drug dealers, cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars, increased crime and destroyed inner cities, fostered widespread corruption and violations of human rights - and all with no success in achieving the stated and unattainable objective of a drug-free America." [continues 4486 words]
