Archive for January, 2010
More Evidence that Terrorism is Fueled by Addiction to Psychotropic Substances: The Possible Role of Khat
In an article written in 2001 I suggested that Osama bin Laden might be addicted to opiates and hashish, and that many of the 9-11 attackers were likely alcoholics. In cases too numerous to mention, from "Drunks, Drugs & Debits: How to Recognize Addicts and Avoid Financial Abuse" to this Report, a far greater percentage of despots, mass murderers and cultists have been identified as alcohol or other-drug addicts than would be expected by mere chance or if we ignore the role that addiction plays in fueling megalomania. Evidence supports the idea that while not every terrorist is an addict, those who are not are ...
Runners-up: Tiger Woods, some con artists and Charlie Sheen
Runners-up for top story of the month:
Eldrick Tont “Tiger” Woods, involved in a 2 a.m. accident that seemed inexplicable, until the world learned of: (1) his serial adultery with more than a dozen women (sexually compulsive; borrowing the methodology from "Drunks, Drugs & Debits," 50% odds of alcoholism), (2) the fact that he seems to have met most of these women in nightclubs and that most if not all of the women appear to be “party” girls (addicts often hang out with addicts; by itself probably 20%, but add 20% of the remaining 50%, or 10%; see “enablers of the month” below for the luscious details), (3) that with at least two of the women he not only didn’t use ...
Behaviors indicate a high likelihood of addiction in Ivana Trump, lawyer Scott Rothstein and Al Sharpton’s ex-wife and daughter
In an early 2009 piece on white collar crime, The Economist magazine mentioned something those who have read my books would predict: “Many [Club Fed and other white collar] prisoners suddenly discover, post-conviction, that they had a drinking problem….” I would add that those who haven’t figured this out might benefit from greater introspection. In the spirit of The Economist’s discovery, a litany of recent stories follow for which the evidence of alcoholism is in the behavior itself.
Ivana Trump, 60, ex-wife of The Donald, forcibly removed from a Delta jet after throwing a tantrum. Dr. Keith Williams, his wife Melissa and their children, 2-year-old Hailey and 10-month-old Ethan, were in the row behind her four first-row first-class seats—all purchased for ...
Tragedy results from unchecked alcoholism.
Alcoholic victims of the month:
Jonathan and Susan Maloney, ages 45 and 42, along with their two children, victims of alcoholism while alive and dead. After they were killed when broadsided by Steven Culbertson, 19, their home was burglarized. Culbertson, who later died, already had at least one DUI on his record and was seen drinking at a Petaluma, California bar shortly before he ran a red light at 70 to 90 mph. A few days later, shortly after their home was ransacked, sheriff’s deputies arrested Amber Marie True, 29, after pulling her over for a routine traffic stop and finding a credit card belonging to Susan Maloney in her possession. After finding other items owned by the Maloney’s in her ...
Enablers of the month: Tiger Woods handlers, etc., those he handled, and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee
Enablers of the month:
Golf reporters, who obviously didn’t want to risk losing what little access they had to Tiger Woods; Woods’ handlers, who didn’t want to risk losing their jobs; and Woods’ fellow players, who no doubt kept secrets because of Woods’ beneficial effect on their earnings from the increased public interest in golf, not to mention TV ratings.
Tiger Woods’ mistresses, including Rachel Uchitel, NYC club hostess; Jamie Grubbs, cocktail waitress;Kalika Moquin, club manager/promoter from Las Vegas (and least likely to be a co-addict based on her pictures; very cute and earthy); Jamie Jungers, “cute, but totally trashy lingerie model” from Vegas; Mindy Lawton, trailer park waitress; Cori Rist, aspiring model who met Woods at a Manhattan club last year ...
Do young stars and rockers really die of “natural causes”? The case of Brittany Murphy and James Owen Sullivan
Headlines of the month:
“Brittany Murphy Likely Died From Natural Causes.” So said the PopEater headline reporting LA County Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter’s take on the 32-year-old’s untimely death from cardiac arrest. However, Murphy, whose claim to fame began with 1995’s “Clueless” and continued in films including “Girl, Interrupted,” reportedly suffered from diabetes and used a lot of cocaine over the years, which can cause sudden death. Her husband, Simon Monjack, 39, reportedly disrupted the set of “Shrinking Charlotte” by showing up inebriated. In a case of possible co-addict enabling, Murphy reportedly shelled out a lot of money over civil judgments against Monjack. Likely death from complications of diabetes and, despite having diabetes, psychotropic drug use should never be referred ...
“The Ascent of Money” and “Black Swan”–two terrific books, which are (unkown to their authors) partly about alcoholism.
Review: The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World by Niall Ferguson and The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable, by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
One of the greatest financial books (Ferguson’s) and one of the best books on philosophy and, indirectly, finance ever written (Taleb’s) would not be expected to be of interest to the addictionologist. However, I have long said that history cannot be understood without comprehending the idea of alcoholic egomania, which due to the resulting need to wield power over others has caused so many addicts to markedly affect history. This includes large chunks of financial history, as detailed in The Ascent of Money.
I’ve written elsewhere (see in particular the August 2007 issue of ...
Seven marriages and physical abuse–and not a word about alcoholism?!!!
Should I tell my 13-year-old granddaughter that her six-times divorced grandfather abused me?
Dear Doug:
I divorced my husband over 20 years ago because he mentally and physically abused me. He and his seventh wife attend family gatherings which, when too intimate, I refuse to attend. I have not and will not discuss this with my 40-year-old son, but wonder if I should tell my 13-year-old granddaughter the truth if she should ask.
Signed,
Single at 65
. . . . .
Dear Codependent,
Other columnists might rightly chastise you for refusing to discuss with your son the abuse at his father’s hands while showing a willingness to discuss it with a 13-year-old. However, they’d tell you the reason for not discussing it is that it’s not ...
When we say, “You can cut back on alcohol,” alcoholics hear this as “this includes you.” This is perhaps the most dangerous myth.
“You can cut back on alcohol.”
So found a survey by the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions, reported by Shari Roan in the L.A. Times, regarding the reported 30% of Americans who had experienced an alcohol “disorder.” The study reportedly found that about 70% quit drinking or cut back to “safe consumption patterns” without treatment after four years or less and that only 1% fit the “stereotypical image” of someone with severe, recurring alcoholism who has “hit the skids.”
Unfortunately, such statistical “findings” can seriously mislead and are, in fact, downright dangerous.
Only 10% of Americans are estimated to have the disease of alcoholism. Of the 30% of Americans experiencing a “disorder” in the study, 20% are, therefore, non-addicts. Many ...
What might explain a doctor who cons patients and hides in the wild for five years?
Story from “This is True” by Randy Cassingham, with his “tagline:”
“EASILY RECOGNIZABLE: Police say Mark Weinberger, a plastic surgeon from Merrillville, Ind., talked patients into expensive surgical procedures and either did a bad job or just took the money and did nothing. The 46-year-old doctor then ran, even taking survival gear so he could hide in the wild, leaving behind hundreds of patients and insurance companies claiming fraud or malpractice, more than $5 million in debts, and his wife. Now, five years later, police in Italy found him hiding in a tent at 6,000' on Mont Blanc. After his arrest, Weinberger took out a hidden box cutter and slit his own throat, but missed all critical structures and survived. He ...