Music fans awoke to tragic news on Saturday morning; singer and songwriter Amy Winehouse was found dead in her London apartment, after having canceled a string of performances due to erratic behavior and problems with substance abuse. She was 27 years old.
The cause of her death is not yet clear, but speculation is already rampant that it had something to do with drugs or alcohol. One of her most famous songs, “Rehab”, spoke to her struggle with substance abuse, and in fact she had been released from a rehab center in Britain just a few weeks before her death. Her often shocking and erratic public behavior, as well as statements from her family, have made Amy Winehouse’s name synonymous with substance abuse problems during much of her career. Her death is a terrible tragedy, but I find it to be all the worse because it was so very preventable. Statements from her father indicated that she was on the “road to recovery”, but had suffered several “steps backward” related to alcohol use. As someone who sees patients struggling with their addictions every day, I can’t help but recognize the patterns of relapse and suffering that characterize poorly controlled addiction. It is as yet unclear whether her death was caused by substance overdose, but I feel it is a fair bet that her substance use contributed in some way to the circumstances of her death, just as I would assume that any other chronic illness, like diabetes or high blood pressure, would have contributed.
As reporters and bloggers discuss Ms. Winehouse’s death, they have also been ceaselessly bringing up the “27 Club”, the number of famous musicians who all died when they were 27 years old. The most famous of these musicians are Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, Janice Joplin, and Jim Morrison; of these four, two (Jimi Hendrix and Janice Joplin) were confirmed to have died of drug overdoses, and substance abuse was suspected to have played a role in the suicide of Kurt Cobain. In our culture, we seem to take it for granted that substance abuse, its dangers and overdoses, are something of an occupational hazard for young, influential musicians; as though heroin, narcotics, alcohol, and other substances are simply a part of the lifestyle. This is a terrible misjudgement; to allow their addiction problems to go untreated until they become lethal is both criminal and cruel. If a star were suffering from any other illness, they would receive the absolute highest quality care available; so why do we allow them to suffer so needlessly from addiction until it finally cuts short their lives?
This isn’t the first time in my years of treating addiction that I’ve seen some media figure suffering from this disease and been outraged by the misinformation and despicable lack of care they receive. The rehab centers frequented by celebrities, especially those who televise their patients’ pain, are laughable and cruel. It is my sincere hope that once addiction is established in the public consciousness as a medical disease, we will be able to get help to all those who suffer from it, including stars, so that we will no longer have to read about these high-profile preventable deaths. We also must remember that for every highly-publicized death from substance abuse or overdose, thousands and thousands of people in less visible positions also die from the same disease. If even the wealthiest and best-loved musicians can’t get care that helps them adequately control their addiction, what can we do for those who don’t have the same money or fame?