Michael Jackson: The King of "Poppers?"

While the circumstances of Michael Jackson’s death may have seemed shocking, they shouldn’t have surprised anyone. Celebrities are overdosing on “legal” drugs more and more, and TV Host Jane Velez-Mitchell says it has become a national epidemic.

The list of celebrities who have overdosed on legal prescription drugs is long and growing fast, with Michael Jackson as the reigning "King." A couple of years before his death, Michael Jackson had been sued after racking up a one hundred thousand dollar tab at a Beverly Hills pharmacy. Famous friends, from Yuri Gellar to Deepak Chopra, were extremely concerned about the star; Chopra refusing him painkillers and Gellar warning Jackson he was going to die if he continued to abuse drugs.  But, here’s the key fact. Not a single drug mentioned in connection with Michael Jackson’s death is an illegal drug. They were all LEGAL prescription drugs being inappropriately prescribed and then abused by perhaps the world’s most famous, and arguably, most talented pill popper. 

Michael Jackson has plenty of competition. The list of celebrities who have overdosed on legal prescription drugs is long and growing fast. Heath Ledger OD’d in his fashionable Manhattan loft on a combination of Oxycodone, Hydrocodone, Diazepam, Alprazolam, Temazepam, and the painkillers OxyContin and Vicodin, the anti-anxiety drugs Valium and Xanax and the sleep aids Restoril and Unisom. Anna Nicole Smith had a head-spinning array of legal prescription drugs in her system when she died in a Florida hotel room. Lexapro, Zoloft, Cipro, Klonopin, Valium, Lorazepam, Ativan, Robaxin and the powerful sleep aid Chloral Hydrate were found in her system. All were perfectly legal pharmaceutical drugs.

“Our nation is in the throes of a prescription drug abuse crisis of unprecedented proportions and our myopic, jaded and complacent criminal justice system is in see no evil, hear no evil mode! “ So says best selling author and TV host Jane Velez-Mitchell in her new book Addict Nation-An Intervention for America.

Velez-Mitchell believes the federal government, the medical community and the pharmaceutical industry all have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo because it has become multi billion dollar industry. The airwaves are awash with commercials for prescription drugs and companies are spending billions on these ads. A Harvard/M.I.T. study confirmed this concluding: every $1 the pharmaceutical industry spent on Direct to Consumer advertising in the year 2000 yielded an additional $4.20 in drug sales. The amount Americans are spending on prescription pills has increased at a stunning rate over the last couple of decades, careening toward the 300 billion dollar mark.

“The celebrity stories of addiction I cover on my show Issues are just the tip of the iceberg and point to an “addictogenic” society in the United States,” says Velez-Mitchell.  Instead of OD’ing on cocaine, heroin and LSD, our medicine cabinets are filled with Valium, Vicodin, Prozac, Klonopin, Paxil, Zoloft, Percocet, Wellbutrin, Xanax, Oxycontin and Ambien… and our misuse of these drugs is killing us.

The Associated Press reports that “defense attorneys and prosecutors are set to discuss, among other topics, plans for TV coverage of the trial of Michael Jackson's doctor, who faces a charge of involuntary manslaughter.”

Dr. Conrad Murray has pleaded not guilty in the death of the music superstar on June 25, 2009.

“Addict Nation-An Intervention for America” is available online (http://addictnation.org) and in stores.

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About the bestselling author: Jane Velez-Mitchell is an award winning television journalist and author of Addict Nation-An Intervention for America. She currently has her own show on HLN, "Issues with Jane Velez-Mitchell." She is often seen commenting on high-profile cases for CNN, TruTV, E! and other national cable TV shows. Velez-Mitchell is an environmentalist, "out" lesbian, animal protection advocate, vegan, and recovering alcoholic with over 15 years of sobriety.

Charlie Sheen: Hooked 5 Different Ways

In her new book “Addict Nation,” TV host Jane Velez-Mitchell explores America’s epidemic of cultural addictions. She says actor Charlie Sheen gets a 5-Star rating…for suffering from 5-blended cross addictions.

 

Bestselling author Jane Velez-Mitchell, a recovering alcoholic with over 15 years of sobriety, believes “Charlie Sheen is classically cross-addicted. He struggles with alcohol, sex, porn, drugs, and rage addiction. That’s FIVE blended cross-addictions where the behaviors have become enmeshed and melded together. That makes recovery five times as difficult. With cross addictions, one obsession -say booze- will trigger another dysfunction like rage. So, Charlie Sheen's goal is to surrender to being powerless over all of these substances and behaviors. Easier said than done and certainly not so easy to do from the confines of home and a network itching to get you back on schedule in a month. Breaking this vicious cycle is likely to take detox, rehab, in depth 12-step work, psychological therapy, anger workshops, etc, all of which is very time consuming.”

 

In her new book Addict Nation-An Intervention for America (HCI Books, Feb. 2011), Velez-Mitchell writes, "Happiness is an inside job and addictions stand in the way of that." She believes Americans have collectively become cross-addicted to a number of dysfunctional behaviors including obsessive cleanliness, overeating, prescription drug dependency, sex addiction, and obsessions with technology, war, incarceration, celebrities and crime. “There’s a growing trend in America to try and solve all manner of discomfort, real or imagined, physical or emotional, with a pill, or a meal, or a video game—anything that takes us out of the moment.“ According to Velez-Mitchell, that tendency has morphed into a “cultural addiction.” Nationwide, deaths from prescription drug overdoses are the second-leading cause of accidental death behind car accidents. In some states, prescription O.D.’s are the leading cause of accidental fatalities.

 

But, this epidemic is being, for the most part, ignored. Why? “Addict Nation” points out that there are billions of dollars made each year on prescription drugs and all the other “legal” forms of self-medicating. In essence, “those industries have become our pushers.”

 

According to Addict Nation, our health and happiness doesn’t matter to the people that profit from addicts like Charlie Sheen. Most things that are being presented to Americans—from purple pills to hamburgers—are being designed, packaged and marketed to get us hooked. Addict Nation tackles the issue of "societal addictions," and promises to shine a light on those who would profit off of our misery.

 

The author boldly takes an inventory of our collective “wreckage” as a nation and suggests we may own an “amends” to the world around us.

 

“It’s incomprehensible that we Americans are lavishing in material items with no consideration for the damage we are doing to the planet. We need to start producing, not to profit, but to satisfy real, pressing needs of Mother Earth. Ironically, this may boost our Gross National Happiness like nothing else…and give us a good foundation for kicking our addictions.”

 

Velez-Mitchell says she's got a blueprint for change, but first we must see what is really going on. This is an intervention!

 

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About the bestselling author: Jane Velez-Mitchell (b. September 29, 1955) is an award winning television journalist and author. She currently has her own show on HLN, "Issues with Jane Velez-Mitchell." She is often seen commenting on high-profile cases for CNN, TruTV, E! and other national cable TV shows. Velez-Mitchell is an environmentalist, animal protection advocate, vegan, and recovering alcoholic with over 15 years of sobriety.

Addict Nation Book Trailer

TV Host Jane Velez-Mitchell Says: The Future is Female

HLN TV Host Jane Velez-Mitchell believes American women are being "hooked" on everything from shopping to prescription drugs. It's making a handful of "pushers" very wealthy and our planet very sick...but there is hope.

According to the new book “Addict Nation,” Americans are being lured into addiction. And what we're hooked on isn't necessarily illegal or even hard to come by. Prescription medications are making us high. Fast food is making us fat. The Internet keeps us constantly distracted with everything from gambling to porn, to compulsive social networking. Television seduces us into buying more stuff we don't need while we drown in debt. Massive profits fill the pockets of a handful of "pushers" at the expense of everyone else. 

In her new book Addict Nation-An Intervention for America (HCI Books, Feb. 2011), bestselling author Jane Velez-Mitchell says, "It's time to take our power back!" She believes Americans have unwittingly supported a number of dysfunctional business practices that threaten our health and the earth. 

According to Velez-Mitchell, women are especially vulnerable to manipulative marketing; applying more than 100 chemicals to their skin each day through cosmetics, and exposing themselves to toxic cleansers in the home. She believes women should lead the way to a more natural lifestyle that is gentler to the earth by voting with their dollars.

She writes, “Frankly, if we hope to survive as a species, the future better be female . . . or at least centered on matriarchal values and respect for women and girls. This is where American women come in. We are the most powerful nation on earth, and about half of us are female. As Americans who pride ourselves on helping others, we need to get our own “house in order” so that we may carry the message to others.“

Addict Nation tackles the issue of cultural addictions, and promises to shine a light on those who would profit off of our misery. Velez-Mitchell says she's got a blueprint for change, but first we must see what is really going on. This is an intervention!

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About the bestselling author: Jane Velez-Mitchell (b. September 29, 1955) is an award winning television journalist and author. She currently has her own show on HLN, "Issues with Jane Velez-Mitchell." She is often seen commenting on high-profile cases for CNN, TruTV, E! and other national cable TV shows. Velez-Mitchell is an environmentalist, "out" lesbian, animal protection advocate, vegan, and recovering alcoholic with over 15 years of sobriety.

Please contact us at addictnation@gmail.com to discuss this, a review, or a personal interview with "Issues" host Jane Velez-Mitchell.