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Do you think famous person overdoses are effectively suicides?

Discussion in 'Chit Chat' started by Tightrope, Oct 31, 2013.

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  1. Tightrope

    Tightrope
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    This is a little broader than an entertainment question, so I'll put it here.

    Fame and success are hard for some to handle. For others, it's not enough of a fix ... or not the fix they thought it would be. For these overdoses that resulted in death, do you view it as addiction gone awry or do you see it as a suicide?

    I'm referring to Cory Monteith, Whitney Houston, Amy Winehouse, Michael Jackson, Heath Ledger, Anna Nicole Smith, Kurt Cobain, and many more.

    Please attempt to separate your reasoning from the fact that you may have really liked the famous person and may have felt a connection to them.
     
    #1 Tightrope, Oct 31, 2013
  2. Ridiculous

    Ridiculous
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    Unless they intended to kill themselves it's not suicide. I doubt many (if any) of those celebrities intended to kill themselves, although we obviously can't know for sure.
     
    #2 Ridiculous, Oct 31, 2013
  3. Data

    Data Guest

    I also see it as just an unfortunate accident.

    Maybe you're moving fast and you take a little too much.
    Maybe you got a different quality of your drug and what you were taking before is now lethal.


    For most, the initial euphoria of the first high is never attainable again. People up their dose again and again and again and try to chase the high that they got the first time they used the drug. That ends up with them using a lethal dose. It's unfortunate.

    Especially with Heroin, what a lethal dose for you is a maintenance dose for me. There are no set in stone dosages. I had a tolerance built up to my Oxycodone, and I could take 20-25mgs, wait 2 hours and do it again. 20-25mgs on a skinny healthy person would probably be too much and make them itchy, nauseous and slow their breathing.

    You see? Your eyes are bigger then your stomach when it comes to food. Drugs are not different really.
     
    #3 Data, Oct 31, 2013
  4. Daydreamer1

    Daydreamer1
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    What Data said. I see it as an accident if anything.
     
    #4 Daydreamer1, Oct 31, 2013
  5. tulman

    tulman
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    OD? Didn't Cobain eat a shotgun shell?
     
    #5 tulman, Nov 1, 2013
  6. jargon

    jargon
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    Well it happens, sometimes. Not just among celebrities. Lots of suicides are reported as accidents regardless. But you can't just go ahead and assume ALL celebrity overdoses are suicides either. Many are just let their addictions get out of hand.

    And yes, Kurt Cobain shot himself. Or Courtney Love did it, if you believe the conspiracy theories. But definitely not an overdose.
     
    #6 jargon, Nov 1, 2013
  7. HuskyPup

    HuskyPup
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    I think in many cases, ODs are a type of suicide, or at least an attitude that deals with life so recklessly that the person is symbolically saying, "So what if I die.". I also think smoking, drinking and drug use can be slow forms of suicide, people are depressed and tired of life, yet who don't have the gumption to end things quickly. So I feel ODs can often be the extreme end of this spectrum. I've had a few friends OD; one died, the other recovered, both liked to party, but neither was happy with life. I think it's pretty similar for famous people.
     
    #7 HuskyPup, Nov 1, 2013
  8. thedreamwatch

    thedreamwatch Guest

    There are tons of people who use drugs. Tons who have the disease that is addiction. Lots of those people OD. Most of them aren't famous.

    I think that lots of people like to think we know stuff about famous people, when in reality we don't know anything about them or their situation.
     
    #8 thedreamwatch, Nov 1, 2013
  9. Chip

    Chip
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    I think the experiences of celebrities are no different than the experiences of non-celebrities. There's no question that some people commit suicide by ODing on something. There's also no question that many ODs are accidental.

    In the case of Cory Montieth, we know he was very happy and in good spirits earlier that evening, hanging out with sober friends, and we know that he was found the following morning with heroin and alcohol in his system. We also know he was about 30 days out of rehab. So most likely, he injected the same dose of heroin that he'd been using before going to rehab, and the combination of that, plus alcohol, simply stopped respiration. I don't think it was intentional. Michael Jackson's certainly wasn't intentional, as his was administered by his incompetent doctor. I don't know enough about the rest to say.
     
    #9 Chip, Nov 1, 2013
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