Corey Haim, a former teen heartthrob who struggled with drug abuse, has died.  He was 38, and the cause of death is unknown.

Police say an autopsy on Corey Haim will be conducted.  While thoughts will naturally gravitate toward drug overdoes, it will take time for any drug testing results to come back.  Normally, that process will take weeks, as we’ve seen with celebrity deaths such as Michael Jackson’s last year.

The report indicated that Corey Haim died at 2:15 a.m. Wednesday at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank.  Police Sgt. William Mann said that Corey Haim had flulike symptoms before he died and was using over-the-counter and prescription medications. “He could have succumbed to whatever (illness) he had or it could have been drugs. Who knows? He has had a drug problem in the past.”

Corey Haim made it big with such movies as “Lucas” and “The Lost Boys.”  However, he fell hard, and in 1997 he filed for Ch. 11 bankruptcy.  Recently, he appeared in the A&E reality TV show “The Two Coreys” with his friend Corey Feldman. After two seasons, the show was cancelled in 2008, with Feldman later saying Haim’s drug abuse strained their relationship.

by Michael S.

By Mannix Porterfield

INTERVIEWER: Were there any early indicators that your son was involved in drugs?

COOPER: I knew Joe was going to the (rave) clubs downtown, but I was born and raised in Central America, and we went to the clubs downtown, drinking beer and dancing. I’m thinking this is what he’s doing.

I noticed a lot of things. But I didn’t know they were (caused by) ecstasy. I didn’t know it was heroin. . . . He just said he smoked pot and drank… (but) there were times that he would come over and he was very high. The only time I ever saw him that indicated it was (more than) pot was the last time I ever saw him. His eyes were very strange. He was moving in slow motion. He was reacting like a zombie. He could not comprehend a simple conversation. I knew it was not pot, but I didn’t know what it was.

The researchers said when they analyzed Joe’s hair, even though he’s classified as a heroin death, he was not a (regular) heroin user. They said the heroin that was in his hair (along with some cocaine) was right at the follicles, (meaning) it was a very recent event. But he had MDMA in every hair from one end to the other. He was a chronic ecstasy user. So I can only surmise that the (other) times I saw him high, it was ecstasy when I thought it was pot.

INTERVIEWER: When Joe died, what happened to you emotionally?

COOPER: I died, when Joe died. When I found him, I couldn’t breath, and I couldn’t swallow. It was like I was watching TV. This had nothing to do with me. Now they (police) had it all blocked off with crime scene tape. They wouldn’t let me back in the house. I could see flash bulbs going off throughout the house. They were photographing everything in there. And I just sat there in the car. This was surreal. I never cried. It was like, this is not happening. I think I just went into shock.

After that, I just straight down the tubes. I started drinking heavily. When I went to bed at night, I wanted to pass out. That was my one goal. I did not want to think because when things were quiet, I would think. In my mind’s eye it was like the flashbulbs going off, what he looked like. He was covered in blood. His face and hair, and blood, it was all mingled together. So it was rather a grotesque scene. For a long time, it would flash through my mind. I lived in terror that one day they wouldn’t flash, that they would stay. I didn’t care about anybody or anything. Nothing made me happy. I just was a basket case.

It’s been over four-and-a-half years. I still take anti-depressants. . . There are times I can talk about this all day and not bat an eye. Other times I can’t, and sometimes I can’t open my mouth or I’ll just start wailing and it will go on forever.

INTERVIEWER: And what happened to your family?

COOPER: People don’t understand what it does to the family. My husband left me, (and) I didn’t even care. . . It was very hard for me to love my own daughter or my grandson. My daughter has a very hard time. She’s married now and pregnant with her first child. And sometimes she’ll just call me and cry, and she’s twenty-seven-and-a-half years old.

My son’s ex-wife - they were divorced, but in the process of getting back together - she and my grandson lived with me, and there are times she’s a nutcase. Three days before his 31st birthday, she went out and she didn’t come home. Then I got a call saying that she wanted to die, she wanted to be with Joe. I was to raise Jason (my grandson), and she wasn’t coming home. By the time she came home, it was after 10:00 in the morning. By now, I’m a nut case, and had the cops involved. She had gone to the cemetery and slept on his grave. I now have her on anti depressants, and going to counseling.

INTERVIEWER: From a parent’s point of view, do you think the media is providing enough information?

COOPER: They need to provide more information about the immediate as well as the long-term damage of ecstasy. They’re picking it up-they’re learning more about the dehydration, the speeding up of the heart-but I don’t think they understand the long-term damage.

INTERVIEWER: Is the Internet kind of a secret society, that as a parent, you don’t feel a part of it?

COOPER: The kids all know the Internet addresses to go to for the pro drug and the rave information, and the parents don’t know about this.

INTERVIEWER: Is there anything that can stop the popularity of ecstasy among youth?

COOPER: Education. Nothing else seems to be working. Arresting them is not working. . . If we can get the word out, (we can) get more of them to understand what’s happening with the serotonin in their brain and that this is not just immediate. This is long-term (brain) damage.

INTERVIEWER: What can a parent do to help their children make the right choices about these drugs?

COOPER: Every parent needs to be totally educated about the drugs out there. Learn about the drugs, what they look like, the paraphernalia, the terminology. If a kid says “let’s go rolling tonight,” the parent assumes they’re going rollerblading. . . they’re not. They’re doing Ecstasy. If they were to see a Vicks Inhaler on their kid’s dresser, they would probably assume the kid had a stuffy nose and never put that together with drug use. They see glow sticks (and) don’t even think “what’s my kid got with glow sticks.” Parents need to know about dope sick. Joe would have a runny nose a lot. He had back aches…I would think he was getting the flu.

Parents need to get educated, even if they think they have a kid that would never do drugs. Don’t ever say “never.” All their kid needs to do is go to one of these parties and it could be the last party they go to. A friend of mine, her daughter went to a hotel party with her two best friends, and tried heroin for the first time and died. Eighteen years old, 4.0 average, scholarship recipient, church-going family, close-knit family, not a reason in the world to suspect this girl (would use drugs). It’s an equal opportunity destroyer. - Drugstory.org

How she found out her children were using…
I’d noticed two of my three children were using around seventh or eighth grade and this took place because the principal of the school that they were going to called me in for a private session; didn’t say who the parent was but someone had brought to their attention, who wanted to let me know, that there was a good possibility that they were using.

Her shock at finding out both children were using…
As soon as I found out I spoke to my husband and then I spoke to the children that were involved and the younger one said, “See you got us in trouble now.” I thought it was one and not both and the realization of that was rather shocking. The other realization was that I went through this whole process once before with my husband.

What happened when she confronted her kids…
My husband and I sat down with our children and we explained the process that my husband went through, beginning to end, and how horrible a disease it is including heredity tendencies because of their father. And of course they agreed with everything that we said – “We’re sorry, we were only trying it out,” and it was not as big a deal as we were making it out to be. As all parents do, I want to believe that, because they were very apologetic about the situation. My children were using a lot more than what they said they were doing and I just didn’t want to believe that. Not my children.

What she thinks about her kids’ manipulation…
I later found out kids are great manipulators and they know how to get and say what they want and when they want it – and they know what you need to hear as a parent so that you will back off.

What challenged her perception of drugs…
I was shocked to discover that my children were not only using marijuana, but they were using drugs that I thought were used by experienced drug addicts, and it was an incredible shock…and that the availability of it is absolutely horrendous.

Why she feared confrontation…
My fears in confronting this is that other people would find out that my children were using and therefore I was a bad parent, that I did not recognize the signs.

How she dealt with her own emotions…
To find out that I wasn’t a bad parent was a process that I had to go through and the process of eliminating the guilt, eliminating the emotional ties to my children, eliminating the anger of everything that took place because I felt totally powerless, I was helpless, I was in great despair…and what did I do? What did I do to make this happen? I had to go through a process of undoing those feelings.

What she thinks about solving the problem…
What I would do over again, if I had the chance, [is that I wish] my husband and I initially were on the same page as to looking at the problem when our children had a problem. And the other thing we learned is that behaviors continue as long as there is an enabling system which allows it. So if one of us allows it, the problem will never go away – so you need to get help. - Drugstory.org

Despite Lauren’s habit, she never had problems securing drugs. “My brother and I found a dealer through school and seniors who had graduated were selling drugs, so there was always someone we could call to hook up any drugs that we needed.” Alcohol wasn’t as easily accessible at school, but Lauren was able to steal liquor from stores. She says, “I actually began stealing alcohol from supermarkets and people’s parents. I … eventually started selling it to people so I would make money.”

Lauren also supported her drug use through a generous allowance from her parents. “My parents would give me $20 a day for school lunch and after school. On weekends, I would tell them I was going to a movie or “Golf and Stuff” or bowling and they would give me $20 or $30, but I would save that money to buy drugs.”

Lauren’s mental state eventually suffered as a result of her drug dependency. She says, “When I was smoking pot and drinking (heavily), I noticed that when I was sober, I was a lot more depressed. Marijuana also made me extremely unmotivated.” Consequently, Lauren often ditched school, or arrived late to class and slept through it. Rarely did she come sober. She recalls, “I would smoke every morning before school and by lunchtime, I would either drink from my water bottle filled with vodka or I’d find someone at school who could sell me Vicodin, OxyContin or Ritalin just to get through the day before I went home to smoke again.” Yet despite her lackluster attendance and attitude, Lauren said her teachers hardly noticed anything wrong with her behavior because she continued to earn good grades. “I basically maintained Bs and As by always copying my homework 5 minutes before class and cheating on tests or getting answers online - stuff like that.”

At home, Lauren’s substance abuse escaped detection. She cleverly hid everything. “I would keep things in my purse or pockets or places where I didn’t expect my parents to inspect. I hid most of my drugs or paraphernalia inside part of the wall where the bathtub was mounted. My nightstand served as an alcohol cabinet. I just placed things in front of it so that when you opened it, you couldn’t really tell there were about 20 different types of alcohol (in it).” She goes on to say, “My parents wanted to give us the benefit of the doubt. Either way, they didn’t have any evidence to get us in trouble.”

That all changed once Lauren’s brother was caught selling acid. To avoid juvenile hall, he began drug treatment, and Lauren’s parents attended group discussions with other parents in their son’s program. Lauren says, “(My parents) learned about what signs to look for in children who may be abusing drugs or alcohol and suspected that I was using drugs, so they searched my room. When they found all of my hidden stuff, they took everything and grounded me for four days. I couldn’t use during that time and those four days were really, really horrible. I realized then that I was dependent on drugs.”

At 15, Lauren entered drug treatment. She says her first attempt wasn’t successful, recalling, “I didn’t stop smoking weed. My brother told me how to cheat drug tests and I was still hanging out with my old friends (who abused drugs). Then after being 26 days sober, I relapsed and snuck out of my house and smoked kief, (pure THC crystals).” This last time using drugs, Lauren says, was an experience that “scared her straight.” She remembers, “I was extremely paranoid and … was hallucinating. Then I had to climb up the side of my house to get in my room. I thought I was going to fall and die.”

At the next treatment program where Lauren enrolled, she met with more success. One of the hardest things for Lauren, though, “…was telling my drug-using friends that I was never going to see them or speak to them again. I felt completely alone, but at the same time, it was liberating to know that I could do things by myself and I immediately started feeling a lot more able without drugs in my life.” - Drugstory.org

In treating heroin addiction, detoxification, which can be done on an in- or outpatient basis with different medications, is the first line of defense. Miotto says, “We attempt detoxification in a treatment setting (because) going cold turkey and detoxifying oneself is seldom successful due to the severity of withdrawal symptoms - including nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle pain, bone pains, anxiety, inability to eat and insomnia.” Detoxification in treatment eases these physical effects while slowly weaning the body from heroin over the course of a few weeks to months, with the ultimate goal of sobriety.

“If users have attempted detoxification at least once and have been addicted to opiates for a year, they may be able to participate in maintenance treatment,” Miotto says. Maintenance treatment seeks to stabilize users with alternate drugs like methadone. “Methadone is taken orally, and people don’t experience withdrawal until 24 hours after their last dosage. The difference between methadone and heroin is that methadone only needs to be taken once a day, so ideally users have time to go back to school, take care of their kids, and go to work.”

Maintenance treatment also helps users avoid relapse by blocking the physical effects of heroin. Those who inject heroin while on methadone don’t experience the euphoria normally induced by heroin.

Because methadone is an opiate and has addictive qualities of its own there is a market for it on the street. In fact, methadone has a street value that ranges anywhere between fifty cents to a dollar per milligram. (According to the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, the average price of a milligram of heroin in Los Angeles is between twelve and fourteen cents.) Miotto says, “Under the new SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) regulations, treatment clinics are required to work with local law enforcement and community agencies to prevent methadone from being re-sold on the street.” According to Miotto, certain monitoring is required to ensure that the people who take the drug are really taking it, and not just holding it in their mouth so they can walk out of the center with it. Patients are also tested to ensure that they are taking their methadone.

Miotto underscores the importance of heroin treatment by reflecting, “I think it’s important to realize that heroin addicts die at a rate of about 5% per year. That’s the highest death rate among any other addiction. They die from infectious disease, from overdose - which is a real risk with heroin, as well as suicide, homicide, and crime-related behavior.” Miotto maintains that treatment can allow people to continue with their lives and help prevent family and personal neglect. - Drugstory.org

“As a parent, I had not adequately addressed inhalant abuse education and the fact that street drugs are not the only ones out there. I now believe that parents should begin educating their children about the dangers of misusing household products at the same time as they begin teaching them not to play ball in the street. Children misuse household products because they mistakenly believe that these products are something they can use to get high with no ill effects.

“It’s very rare that a parent will discover that a child is using inhalants or household products to achieve an altered level of consciousness. The biggest sign of a problem is when a child’s behavior changes drastically and his friends and interests change. Because such things normally occur during adolescence, drug abuse may escape parental attention for some time. Once inhalant abuse is discovered, aggressive measures need to be taken to preserve that child’s future. The literature shows that they’ll consistently go back and use unless major actions are taken. And they go on to abuse other drugs and substances.

“Inhalant abuse is not something that’s going to go away. It is prevalent in rural, urban and suburban communities across all socioeconomic lines. Once a practice like this gets entrenched in any society or community, it’s virtually impossible to extinguish it. The best we can do is safeguard our communities through aggressive education of parents and children. We need to take the same approach to drug and inhalant abuse that we do towards sex education. Many of us are old enough to remember how controversial sex ed. was when were in school. There was a lot of parental resistance and denial back then, too. But I believe our society is safer and better informed because of such programs.” -Drugstory.org

Methamphetamine, commonly known as “crank,” “speed,” and “meth,” is an extremely powerful stimulant with a high potential for abuse.¹ It usually comes in the form of a white crystalline powder and is snorted, injected, smoked, or taken orally.² Originally confined to the west coast and certain rural mid-western areas, crank is spreading east, and is turning up more in all major U.S. cities.³ In fact, an estimated 8.8 million Americans have tried crank at some point in their lives.⁴

Q: What inspired you to make the Crank documentary?

EY: I was born and raised in New York. I had only heard vague whispers about this drug Crank. No one had a clue what it was. So I talked to HBO about it and told them I wanted to go out there to do a documentary about it. And when I did it just blew my mind. It was everywhere.

Q: How did you find the subjects of the Crank documentary?

EY: When I got to Iowa, it was like looking at people who belonged on the cover of a Wheaties box. It seemed so weird to have such a big drug epidemic there. I originally thought it was going to be very difficult to get people to talk to me about it [but] I found that I had to choose who to include. It’s such an insidious drug, so toxic, so instantaneously addictive, that folks wanted to do this because they thought if they did, they’d have to quit. Some people felt that if they told their story, that it might help others not to do it.

Q: Were the users who appeared in the film concerned about being prosecuted as a result of their participation?

EY: I would say repeatedly to them: “You don’t have to do this, I don’t want to ruin your life.” But prosecution by the law was so secondary to them compared to the prison they were already living in by being addicted to this stuff. I would think that they would decline to participate because it’d be embarrassing. But they would tell me: “We’re beyond embarrassment. We’re already drug addicts.” I always try to be as non-judgmental and objective as possible. But now that I’ve been around this stuff, I’m all for trying to de-glamorize it by showing the people whose lives were caught up in it.

Q: Other than the fact that most Crank is manufactured in America, is there anything else that you see as being particularly American about the drug?

EY: Sure - the naïve, arrogant sense of invincibility… the rugged individualism, the freedom to get on your motorcycle, carry your gun, and cook up your meth. There’s a bit of the self-sufficient, Western-frontiersman thing to it.

Q: Do you have any advice to documentary filmmakers who are just getting started?

EY: At the age of 47 I’m finally starting to figure it out. Documentary films happen because you’re invited in as a guest. It’s due to the kindness of strangers that you’re allowed to make your living. These are tragic people, and you’ve got to treat them with nothing but respect. You have to be polite. You have to listen. The less of you that’s in the film, the better. Let the story do the work

Drugstory.org

The statement reads: “Linda Hogan responded to Hulk and Brooke Hogan’s public drug test challenge by going to a medical doctor and actually submitting to a full drug testing. After hearing of the malicious allegations, Linda immediately made arrangements to take the test first thing Monday, June 1st for the test which was analyzed at a nationally known lab in Florida.”

And there’s even more, as the statement goes on to detail that all results are clean, with Linda testing negative for speed, marijuana, cocaine, vicodin, morphine, heroin and PCP.

Hulk and Brooke had claimed that Linda was living a bad lifestyle and was using drugs with her younger boyfriend, Charlie Hill, who is 19.  But cleaning her name of any drug dirt isn’t enough for Linda, whose statement goes on to lay blame at her estranged family’s door.
“This has been a very vindictive and hurtful attempt to discredit Linda. She has opened her private medical records to disprove Brooke and Hulk’s horrendous, unsupported allegations.  She asks the public respect her privacy on this matter so she may begin to repair her relationship with her daughter,” her rep adds.

Associated Press