Michael K. Williams died of "accidental" overdose!

The only show I recognize him from was a TV show called Community. He played a professor for a season or 2.

 

The users are responsible for the drug trade. Every time someone does a line or shoots up, they're responsible for someone dying in Colombia, Mexico, or the streets of the U.S.

 

I wonder if this is self medicating for something? It seems to happen with lot's of people in creative / artistic jobs. Maybe Actors think intentionally messing with their heads helps some actors to constantly pretend to be other people for a living. Or.... it starts that way and later on it's used for both this and whatever high it gives them.

Some fiction writers go down this path like Stephen King doing coke before writing, but then still chain smoking.

 

Youre on the right track now, diagnosing root causes by asking the right questions will always be more fruitful than blanket condemnations based on assuming the reasons.

If you want a deeper look at the cycles of addiction, i recommend "chasing the scream" by johann hari, available of audible.

Addiction and its behaviours manifest in many ways, alcoholism to eating disorders to habitual heroin use. Some people work like demons, so that they can go home and drink themselves senseless, some people do resort to selling themselves for the next hit, and some choose theft.

The big takeaway is that its not so much the drug or thing pursued, so much as how strong the addiction is (concious or otherwise)

As for self medication, taking myself as an example, yes i deal with ADD via caffeine and nicotine, am i making kidney stones and probably wrecking my lungs and giving myself a 1/3 chance of lung cancer? Yes to both. But it works for me. This is a tame example, but it serves to illustrate some of why we continue. Dont get me wrong, i was hooked on both before i realised why they had positive effects, i have tried to quit a few times, and the side effects of quitting were worse on a day to day basis than abusing my body with a pack a day and about a gallon of coffee a day

 

The tie in with work performance especially with the arts might be a key.

What if author genuinely felt they could forcefully squeeze great artistic works out of their imagination with tools like drugs? Or, they might convince themselves that by going sober, their work would lose an 'edge'? It might still be decent, but mediocre compared to what they might have done?

It might almost be a deal with the devil situation. I think some high performance athletes face a similar temptation. Even if they don't die their body is a wreck.

 

Overdose should be reclassified as suicide..

 

I don't even remember him from The Road.
I guess we don't watch much Drama?

 

By that logic, heart failure from mcdonalds/obesity should he classified as suicide too.

Thats an overdose too

 

Here, snort/inject/swallow this crap. It will kill you, but you'll be so high, you won't care.
Why?????