As many throughout the world mourn for Whitney Houston’s death, we want to reflect on what we can learn from the allegations and controversy surrounding addiction. Whitney’s life was also tarnished with drug use allegations and controversy. While the circumstances surrounding her death are still unknown, it is important to focus on the life of Whitney Houston and the possible lessons that we may learn from it. Whitney has been in rehab for substance abuse 3 times, having admitted to using cocaine in her past. Current reports are saying prescription pills may be the cause of her death at this time.
 
As unfortunate as her early death is, we do know that lives can be saved when topics like this is covered in the media. Whitney was surrounded by family and friends throughout her life and it’s important when someone may be struggling to have loving conversations with them about getting help for possible addiction problems. While many have legitimate prescriptions, addiction to pain pills can easily get out of control. Tolerance builds up and many times the person has to take more to alleviate the pain, anxiety or ailment. We have never treated Whitney, and cannot assume she had a problem, the allegations surrounding this allows us to educate the public on the dangers of mixing pills, using them with alcohol, tolerance build up and dependence.
 
So as we mourn the death of a great musical icon, let’s also learn from her life what we can.