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  • Two More Men Arrested In Mac Miller Death Investigation

    Two More Men Arrested In Mac Miller Death Investigation

    The third man stands accused of supplying the pills suspected to have caused Mac Miller’s fatal overdose.

    Arizona police have arrested and charged Ryan Reavis and Stephen “Stevie” Walter in connection to the death of rapper Mac Miller, who died of an unintentional overdose a little over a year ago.

    Officers who searched Reavis’ home reportedly found a physician’s prescription pad, prescription pills, marijuana and drug paraphernalia, plus firearms, ammunition, and a homemade firearm suppressor.

    The search was reportedly part of an investigation into the death of Mac Miller, real name Malcolm James McCormick. According to Havasu News, police issued a number of charges against Reavis, but none of them appear to be connected directly to the overdose death. He is currently being held on a $50,000 cash-only bond. 

    Arrests Follow That of Co-Conspirator

    Stephen Walter was charged with conspiracy and attempt to distribute a controlled substance and is being held without bond. According to Rolling Stone, the criminal complaint against him alleges that Walter provided the counterfeit pills to Cameron James Pettit, who sold them to McCormick days before he died.

    Cameron James Pettit, 28, was arrested in relation to Mac Miller’s death earlier this month. The Hollywood Hills man is accused of providing McCormick with counterfeit oxycodone pills that were laced with the highly potent opioid, fentanyl.

    This drug has been responsible for many of the overdose deaths that have fueled the opioid crisis in recent years.

    According to NBC, Pettit responded to a friend’s text asking how he was doing soon after McCormick’s overdose by saying “I am not great … Most likely I will die in jail.”

    Transcripts of texts messages obtained by police also allegedly show that Pettit asked Walter for “10 blues” (Percocet). Reavis may have been the “runner” who delivered the drugs from Walter to Pettit, and texts reportedly also show Reavis and Pettit arranging a time and place to meet.

    Deadly Combo Of Cocaine, Alcohol & Fentanyl

    McCormick was pronounced dead in his home in Studio City on September 7, 2018 after being found unresponsive by his personal assistant following the overdose. The Los Angeles County Coroner’s office found that he died of mixed drug toxicity involving cocaine, alcohol, and fentanyl.

    The rapper had been struggling with addiction for years and expressed his desire to be sober in the 2016 documentary Stopped Making Excuses.

    “I’d rather be the corny white rapper than the drugged-out mess that can’t even get out of his house,” he said. “Overdosing is just not cool. There’s no legendary romance. You don’t go down in history because you overdosed. You just die.”

    McCormick did achieve sobriety for a time in the second half of 2016, but it was speculated that he had relapsed by 2017 when he told W Magazine that “I’ve spent a good time very sober and now I’m just, like, living regularly.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Five Overdose Deaths In New York Possibly Caused By Tainted Cocaine

    Five Overdose Deaths In New York Possibly Caused By Tainted Cocaine

    Authorities have not yet announced what the cocaine was laced with, though some suspect fentanyl may be involved. 

    Five overdose deaths in one weekend spread across two neighboring areas of New York City have police suspecting that a tainted batch of drugs was involved. Three of the overdoses occurred in the Bronx with the other two happening just to the north in Yonkers.

    New York police have identified a batch of tainted cocaine they believe could be the reason for these deaths, according to NBC News.

    “Right now we suspect that there may be up to five deaths related to this batch of cocaine so we want the public to know to not ingest these illicit street drugs because the consequences may be fatal,” said Detective Sergeant Dean Politopoulos.

    Waiting For Toxicology Reports

    The Yonkers police are currently seeking to arrest those responsible for the tainted cocaine. They have not yet announced what the cocaine was laced with, though recent cases of multiple overdose deaths in short periods of time have often been the result of fentanyl contamination, the extremely potent synthetic opioid.

    According to local news, it will be a few weeks before the toxicology reports are released.

    Three Died in Pittsburgh In The Same Week

    The deaths in New York occurred on the same weekend as a rash of overdoses in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, that killed three people and sent four more to the hospital. All of them appeared to have attended the same party or event as they were all wearing the same orange paper wristbands when they suffered the overdoses.

    “The victims all took the narcotics at the same time and in the same location,” Pittsburgh police said in a statement. They believe the seven victims were at the same venue together and then traveled to an apartment where they took an illicit substance that also may have been tainted.

    A man from the apartment called 911 for help at 2 a.m. Sunday morning, and police believe that if the drug had been distributed at the venue rather than taken at the apartment, there would have been other reports of overdoses in the area.

    They are, however, concerned that there may still be a batch of contaminated drugs out in the community which might be distributed to future victims.

    “We remind the public not to use drugs,” they warned. “Simply put: You do not know what’s in that drug.”

    The Pittsburgh police have determined that fentanyl was the contaminant responsible for these overdoses. They have arrested a suspect, Peter Rene Sanchez Montalvo, and charged him with illegal distribution of a controlled substance. If found guilty, he faces 20 years to life in prison.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • John Goodman On Depression, Addiction

    John Goodman On Depression, Addiction

    The prolific actor, who’s been sober for 12 years, has been candid about his past struggles with alcoholism and depression.

    John Goodman of Roseanne and now The Conners has struggled with depression since gaining widespread fame in the late 1980s, according to a report by Amo Mama. He also battled alcohol addiction for decades, avoiding treatment until the problem got out of control and his wife got him into treatment in 2007.

    Heavy Drinking Affected His Job

    He spoke on this in a 2018 interview with Willie Geist of Today, revealing that he missed a rehearsal because he was still drunk from a weekend out with friends.

    “I was shaking, I was still drinking, but I was still shaking,” he said. “I had the clarity of thought that I needed to be hospitalized.”

    Now 12 years sober, Goodman is starring in the second season of The Conners, which premiered on Tuesday.

    Goodman’s mental health and substance use issues began after the success of Roseanne launched him into tabloid-worthy status.

    Dealing With Fame

    The actor had a difficult time adjusting to the new level of fame and scrutiny, calling it “very unnatural.” He had such a distaste for it that after the show ended, he moved his family from Los Angeles to New Orleans in an effort to escape from the unwanted attention.

    “I’d had it with show business, publicity, tabloid stuff – I’d just had it,” he told The Guardian in 2015. “I kind of wanted to get her, my daughter, away from that.”

    Unfortunately, by that time, Goodman was already in the grips of alcohol addiction. Though he never suffered an overdose, he admitted that “there’s many times I could have gone under” in terms of some type of “misadventure.”

    Now, however, Goodman says he only drinks in his dreams.

    Roseanne’s Cancellation 

    Though he’s doing well with his sobriety, Goodman still struggles with depression from time to time. He revealed in 2018 that he went through a depressed period that lasted about a month after the Roseanne reboot was canceled following racist comments from the show’s namesake, Roseanne Barr, about former senior advisor to Barack Obama, Valerie Jarrett.

    “I was brokenhearted, but I thought, ‘OK, it’s just show business, I’m going to let it go,’” said Goodman. “But I went through a period, about a month, where I was very depressed. I’m a depressive anyway, so any excuse that I can get to lower myself, I will. But that had a great deal to do with it, more than I wanted to admit.”

    The reboot was quickly re-crafted into a spinoff, The Conners, in which Roseanne dies suddenly of an opioid overdose following a hidden addiction and the family has to move forward without her — something many Americans could identify with at the peak of the opioid crisis.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • State Marijuana Legalization Might Not Include Smoking, New York Governor Hints

    State Marijuana Legalization Might Not Include Smoking, New York Governor Hints

    “There are ways to get THC without smoking marijuana, and we don’t encourage smoking period.”

    Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York may have hinted that the state’s cannabis legalization bill may include a ban on smoking the substance, allowing only other methods of use such as edibles.

    This suggestion was noticed by Marijuana Moment after Cuomo was interviewed on MSNBC Sunday and was asked if the recent cases of lung injury and deaths possibly connected to vaping products had made him reconsider his stance on the issue.

    “No,” said Cuomo. “On marijuana, we’re not in favor of smoking marijuana. There are ways to get THC without smoking marijuana, and we don’t encourage smoking period.”

    Legalizing THC Doesn’t Necessarily Mean Legalizing Weed

    Cuomo may have simply been defending his stance on cannabis legalization by pointing out that people don’t have to smoke it in order to enjoy it as MSNBC anchor Kendis Gibson pushed him on the vaping issue. However, multiple cannabis-focused news outlets have interpreted his answers as possibly suggesting that all or some forms of smoking could be banned in a future legalization bill.

    “You can legalize marijuana and sell THC in compounds that do not require you to smoke the marijuana, and we do not support smoking of marijuana,” Cuomo continued. “There are compounds that have the THC, which is a compound in marijuana, that you don’t smoke.”

    It is possible that a marijuana legalization bill could include an exception for smokables, especially as general bans on vaping products for both tobacco and cannabis have already been proposed.

    The Trump administration is currently finalizing a national ban on flavored e-cigarettes that many experts have pointed to as the reason for the recent spikes in teen vaping rates. 

    Democrats are backing the proposed ban, with many of them saying that the legislation is long overdue. Meanwhile, multiple states, including New York, are drafting their own vaping bans.

    There is also direct precedent for such a ban in New York cannabis law. In 2014, medical marijuana legislation signed into law by Cuomo included a ban on smokable forms of the substance. Cuomo insisted on this provision himself, though his views on cannabis have clearly evolved over the years.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Teen Vaping Has Doubled Since 2017

    Teen Vaping Has Doubled Since 2017

    The dramatic increase, along with with recent reports of vaping-related lung disease and deaths, has led the NIDA to declare a public health crisis.

    The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) put out a news release on Wednesday announcing preliminary data on teen use of e-cigarettes or “vape pens.” The preliminary data found that e-cigarette use has more than doubled since 2017.

    The 2019 Monitoring the Future Survey looked at vaping rates from American 10th and 12th graders and found that this year, one in four 12th graders and one in five 10th graders had vaped in the past month.

    These numbers represent an alarming jump from 2017, in which 11% of 12th graders and 8% of 10th graders reported vaping within the past 30 days. The 2019 data was also the first year to measure the prevalence of daily use, finding that 11.7% of 12th graders and 6.9% of 10th graders report vaping every day.

    Numbers are also up among 8th graders, 9% of whom reported vaping within the past 30 days in 2019—up from 3.5% in 2017.

    A Public Health Crisis

    The dramatic increase, along with with recent reports of vaping-related lung disease and deaths, has led NIDA Director Dr. Nora Volkow to declare a public health crisis.

    “With 25% of 12th graders, 20% of 10th graders and 9% of eighth graders now vaping nicotine within the past month, the use of these devices has become a public health crisis,” said Volkow. “These products introduce the highly addictive chemical nicotine to these young people and their developing brains, and I fear we are only beginning to learn the possible health risks and outcomes for youth.”

    E-Cigarette Sellers Targeting Teens

    Sellers of e-cigarettes, especially those that include flavoring and come in colorful packaging, have been accused of attempting to attract underage customers.

    Regardless of intent, multiple studies have made it clear that underage nicotine use is up largely in connection with flavored vape products. Some teens have reported that they accidentally consumed nicotine by using these products while assuming that they were nicotine-free, only smoking them for the flavoring.

    “Parents with school-aged children should begin paying close attention to these devices, which can look like simple flash drives, and frequently come in flavors that are appealing to youth,” said University of Michigan lead researcher Dr. Richard Miech. “National leaders can assist parents by stepping up and implementing policies and programs to prevent use of these products by teens.”

    The full findings from the 2019 Monitoring the Future Survey will be released in December.

     

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Andie MacDowell Details How Her Mother's Alcoholism Affected Her Life

    Andie MacDowell Details How Her Mother's Alcoholism Affected Her Life

    “I think I’ve felt responsible all my life. But I’m good at it. I’ve been in training for a long time,” MacDowell said.

    Actress and fashion model Andie MacDowell spoke on growing up with a mother who was addicted to alcohol and how that affected her own desire to consume intoxicating substances in a recent interview with The Guardian.

    The 61-year-old star of film classics such as Groundhog Day and Sex, Lies, and Videotape recalls being a young model in New York and being introduced to cocaine. Thankfully, she was not a fan.

    Cocaine Was Ubiquitous In Her Modeling Days

    “There was a lot of cocaine around,” she said. “I had a small experience at the very beginning and hated it. I hated it! It was only, like, a month. I really didn’t like the way it felt. It didn’t make me feel good and I couldn’t sleep.”

    The use of cocaine among models at the time was so common, and sober individuals so rare, that MacDowell almost ended her career at age 21, telling her agency that she wanted to go home. Instead, they introduced her to champagne heir Olivier Chandon de Brailles, who also didn’t care for drugs and alcohol, and the two started dating.

    “I don’t know if they prearranged the whole thing, but it sure did work out well for me. I started working non-stop and my whole life opened up.”

    As A Young Child, She Took Care Of Her Mom 

    MacDowell’s distaste for drugs and alcohol began at a young age, as she watched her mother, Paula Johnston, struggle with alcohol addiction. According to the actress, she would often wake up late at night to check to make sure her mom’s last cigarette was out all the way. 

    “There was this old-fashioned can opener attached to the wall and she’d be in the kitchen drinking and I’d clean the oil off the can opener and talk to her and ask: ‘Why do you drink?’” she remembered.

    “There were burn marks all over the floor and on the couch; it’s amazing we didn’t burn down,” she recalled. “That’s a lot of responsibility for a child, I say. I think I’ve felt responsible all my life. But I’m good at it. I’ve been in training for a long time.”

    However, she says she “always felt loved” and that she and her mother had a good relationship.

    At age 17, MacDowell appealed to doctors for help with addiction treatment, but options were limited. One doctor’s decision to prescribe Valium only made the problem worse.

    “That was a bad decision because then I couldn’t communicate with her,” she said. “And I communicated really well with her.”

    Her mother did finally get to a better place just one year before she died of a heart attack at age 53. 

    “She said she had quit drinking and that she was so proud of me. That was the last year of her life and I didn’t really get to be around it, which was super sad.”

    As a mother of three herself, MacDowell was fine with her daughters getting into the acting business in spite of the not-so-hidden drug culture within, trusting that they are as disinterested in that kind of lifestyle as she is.

    “We’re really kind of boring people. We barely want to go out… I’m a home body and I do yoga and I hike, that’s kind of it. No drugs and rock and roll!”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • "60 Minutes" Tracks Down Fentanyl "Kingpin" In China

    "60 Minutes" Tracks Down Fentanyl "Kingpin" In China

    The show’s producers tracked down and confronted one of the primary sources offering fentanyl online to US residents.

    60 Minutes recently did a segment on the fentanyl crisis, tracking down a man identified as something of a “kingpin” for the trafficking of this incredibly potent drug from China. Shipments of fentanyl from China via the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) are considered by federal authorities to be a massive source of the influx of the drug that has been causing mass overdose cases across the country.

    Shopping For Fentanyl Online

    After two overdose deaths in a week in Akron, Ohio, assistant U.S. Attorney Matt Cronin decided to investigate how the synthetic opioid, which can be 50 times more potent than heroin, was making its way so easily into American hands. He found that ordering fentanyl online was shockingly simple.

    “We just said, ‘Hey,’ according to the source’s instructions, ‘we’re interested in buying fentanyl,’” said Cronin. “And the result was, to say the least, surprising. We have dozens, probably over 50 different drug trafficking networks reaching out to us saying, ‘We have fentanyl. We have even more powerful fentanyl analogs. Whatever you want, we’ll get it for you for cheap. We’ll get it for you in bulk.’”

    All of the replies came from China.

    According to similar investigations by Ohio Senator Rob Portman and his staff, these sources guaranteed shipments that went through the USPS due to delays in implementing shipping procedures designed to stop fentanyl trafficking.

    “That’s because after 9/11, all private carriers like FedEx were required to give U.S. Customs advance descriptions and tracking of foreign packages,” 60 Minutes reports. “The Postal Service was allowed to delay because of the cost.”

    Although the USPS has tried to implement these requirements, they say that China is not cooperating.

    Locating The Source

    Somehow, 60 Minutes producer Bob Anderson tracked down a man named Guanghua Zheng, who was identified as one of the primary sources offering fentanyl online to U.S. residents, and confronted him outside of a Shanghai grocery store. Zheng insisted that he no longer does this before the woman who was with him intervened.

    The U.S. government has “sealed” off Zheng’s offshore bank accounts, shut down 40 of his websites selling illicit substances like fentanyl in 20 languages, and officially designated him and his sons as “foreign drug kingpins.” China has promised to shut down the synthetic opioid trafficking networks operating within its borders, but it’s unclear whether they are following through.

    During the 60 Minutes segment, Justin Herdman, U.S. Attorney in Cleveland, repeated a claim that fentanyl can cause intoxication, overdose, and even death through mere skin contact. However, in 2018, harm reduction activist Chad Sabora demonstrated this to be a myth by holding fentanyl-laced powder in his hand for several minutes without effect.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Wendy Williams Talks Cocaine Addiction, Sober Living On "The View"

    Wendy Williams Talks Cocaine Addiction, Sober Living On "The View"

    “It’s been a very, very difficult time,” she said.

    Talk show host and entrepreneur Wendy Williams opened up about her former addiction issues, sober living, and her recent divorce as a guest on The View last Thursday.

    The host of The Wendy Williams Show confirmed her divorce proceedings from her second husband, Kevin Hunter, after he had a baby with another woman. In the difficult period after Williams discovered the infidelity, she spent some time in a sober living house so that she could focus on her future in a supportive environment without certain distractions.

    “It’s been a very, very difficult time,” she said. “I couldn’t talk to my mom. Who wants to burden her? I couldn’t talk to my sister. And most of my girlfriends would have said, ‘You should have left him a longggg time ago.’”

    At the sober living house, she could “plot on” her next steps in a place she described as “rehab where they take your phone and lock it in a safe, so people can’t call me and inject their opinions on my life.”

    From Functioning Addict to Raising A Family

    Williams was addicted to cocaine for many years while she built her career as a radio DJ, partying all night after her shifts at the station.

    “I was a functioning addict. I’d work from 3 in the afternoon until 7 at night, get off and party until 7 in the morning — then sleep until 2, go to the radio station and do it all over again,” she said in an interview with In Touch Magazine.

    This continued until she met her future first husband. Her love for him inspired her to quit without her having to reach a breaking point. She hasn’t touched cocaine for 25 years.

    Williams remained with Hunter for a time while their son, Kevin Hunter, Jr., completed high school and went off to college. However, she had no doubts about divorcing her husband when she found out about the new baby.

    “I didn’t even go back and forth with oh do I stay, maybe there’s marriage counseling or something. Nooooo. You do this? Get out!” she said.

    Future Plans

    She also addressed the rumors that she would be joining The Real Housewives of New York City, saying that although the pay would be nice, “I’m not that girl.” She joked that ABC also asked her to be on The Bachelorette. 

    On the contrary, Williams is focused on getting ready for the 11th season of her long-running talk show, which premieres on September 16.

    “Look, I’ve got the purple chair, I worked all my life to have that,” she said.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Avicii To Be Honored At All-Star Concert For Mental Health Awareness

    Avicii To Be Honored At All-Star Concert For Mental Health Awareness

    The Avicii Tribute Concert for Mental Health Awareness will take place in December in the superstar DJ’s hometown of Stockholm.

    A tribute concert for the late Swedish DJ and songwriter, Avicii, has been planned for December 5th in his hometown of Stockholm. All proceeds from the event will go to mental health and suicide prevention organizations.

    The world famous DJ, born Tim Bergling, died by suicide on April 20, 2018, after retiring from touring in 2016. Bergling had been struggling with pancreatitis aggravated by heavy drinking.

    Original Music

    The Avicii Tribute Concert for Mental Health Awareness has already confirmed 19 musical artists including David Guetta, Adam Lambert and Rita Ora, and will feature some of Bergling’s original music, some of which has never been performed live. The artists will be supported by a 30-piece band during a two-hour set, with more musical guests to be announced in the coming months.

    “We are grateful that his friends, producers, artists and colleagues are coming to Stockholm to help,” said Klas Bergling, Tim’s father, in a statement. “They have all expressed a sincere interest and desire to engage in efforts to stem the tide of mental illness and lend their support to our work with the Tim Bergling Foundation. We are very much looking forward to this evening, which will be a starting point for the foundation’s work going forward.”

    Bergling retired from performing at the height of his career after suffering from deteriorating health for years. He was hospitalized in 2012 with acute pancreatitis, which was reportedly a result of his heavy alcohol use. He had his appendix and gallbladder removed in 2014. In spite of these clear and documented health issues, Bergling was sent what was described as a “flood of hate mail” when he would cancel performances.

    Early Retirement

    The artist spoke on these as well as mental health issues in a 2017 documentary titled Avicii: True Stories, directed by Bergling’s old friend Levan Tsikurishvili who spoke with Variety on the immense pressures the DJ faced before retiring.

    “In the film, you see him working from literally his hospital bed… But I think he didn’t really know from the beginning [at 19 years old] what it means to be that successful,” he said. “No one knew that he could be that successful. It has been a weight for him.”

    After his death, Bergling’s family launched the Tim Bergling Foundation to “focus on supporting people and organizations working in the field of mental illness and suicide prevention,” among other issues. The tribute concert is part of their efforts to reduce stigma around the issues that led to the loss of such an important musical artist.

    “We want this concert to help put the topic on the agenda and pay attention to the stigma surrounding mental illness and suicide,” said Klas. “Policies and tools are needed to detect the risks and prevent suicide, especially among young people.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Justin Bieber Used "Heavy Drugs" To Cope With Pressures Of Fame

    Justin Bieber Used "Heavy Drugs" To Cope With Pressures Of Fame

    The pop star got candid on Instagram about his past drug use, mental health and relationships.

    Singer-songwriter Justin Bieber recently shared a number of thoughts and feelings in a long Instagram post that covered his unstable childhood, the shock of finding fame at such a young age, the ups and downs of performing, and his past drug use.

    The Canadian YouTube singer-turned-teen-sensation admitted that he “started doing pretty heavy drugs at 19” in connection with his chaotic teen years in which he went from being unknown to being beloved by millions.

    Bad Decisions

    “As my talent progressed and I became ultra successful it happened within a strand of two years… By 20 I made every bad decision you could have thought of and went from one of the most loved and adored people in the world to the most ridiculed, judged and hated person in the world!” he wrote.

    Bieber blames his bad decisions on the pressures that were placed on him at such a young age, when he was still, naturally, “defiant, rebellious, things all of us have to go through.” He also pointed to the common experience of child stars, many who have ended up with substance use issues, legal problems, and/or mental illness.

    In 2014, Bieber was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence on an expired license and charged with these crimes plus resisting arrest without violence. A toxicology report found THC and Xanax in his system and police claimed he also admitted to having consumed alcohol in addition to the other drugs before driving. He settled for the lesser charge of “misdemeanor careless driving and resisting arrest without violence” and paid a $500 fine, plus a $50,000 contribution to the charity Our Kids.

    Married Life

    Today, 25 and recently married to model Hailey Baldwin, Bieber seems to have settled down and is learning from his past mistakes, writing that “humility comes with age.”

    “It’s taken me years to bounce back from all of these terrible decisions, fix broken relationships, and change relationship habits,” he said in his Instagram post. “Luckily god blessed me with extraordinary people who love me for me.”

    Bieber has spoken in the past about struggling with mental health issues such as depression and anxiety and was diagnosed with ADHD at a young age. In another Instagram post back in March, he asked fans to pray for him as he struggled, saying he was “feeling super disconnected and weird.” However, he remained positive.

    “I always bounce back so I’m not worried just wanted to reach out and ask for your [sic] guys to pray for me,” he wrote. “God is faithful and ur prayers really work thanks.”

    View the original article at thefix.com