Say what you will about hip hop superstar Eminem, but he’s never shied from publicly airing his demons.
So it’s unsurprising that the multi-platinum artist opens up about his near fatal addiction to Vicodin and other prescriptions in a new documentary, “How to Make Money Selling Drugs.” Eminem kicked his 20-pill-per day habit about six years ago and famously chronicled it in his albums, “Relapse” and “Recovery.”
In the documentary about hip-hop, Eminem remembers his first time taking Vicodin:
“It was like this feeling of ‘ahh.’ Like everything was not only mellow, but didn’t feel any pain,” Eminem said. “It just kind of numbed things… I don’t know at what point exactly it started to be a problem. I just remember liking it more and more. People tried to tell me that I had a problem. I would say, ‘Get that … person outta here. I can’t believe they said that … to me.’ They knew nothing about my … life. Are they out of their … mind? I’m not out there shooting heroin. I’m not … out there putting coke up my nose. I’m not smoking crack.”
Soon enough, though, the habit nearly killed him and he wound up in a hospital.
“Had I have got to the hospital about two hours later, I would have died. My organs were shutting down. My liver, kidneys, everything. They were gonna have to put me on dialysis. They didn’t think I was gonna make it. My bottom was gonna be death,” said the rapper.
Eminem is one of numerous stars to struggle with prescription painkillers, from radio host Rush Limbaugh and “Friends”star Matthew Perry to country singer Mindy McCready to “American Idol” sweetheart Paula Abdul.
Many follow the arc that Eminem detailed so bluntly. They began using after an injury or because it feels good and relieves stress. They deny it’s a problem. Eventually, they can’t deny it anymore. But they’re powerless to do anything. Sometimes, there’s happy endings, like Eminem’s comeback. Others have to return to detox several times, like Perry. Sometimes, like McCready’s suicide, the ending is death.
Many can relate
Prescription painkillers are an epidemic in America, killing some 16,000 through overdoses per year. The drugs for years were marketed as safe alternatives and prescribed for injuries as minor as back pain. Even as drug companies such as OxyContin manufacturer Purdue Pharma have backed away from the claims and paid hefty fines, the industry rolls along like a juggernaut, recording more than $8 billion in sales in 2012.
There is help
Clarity Intensive Outpatient Opiate Treatment (I.O.O.T.) offers a confidential, fast and painless way to get – and stay – clean. Clarity is the only detox program that combines patented, effective process with safe, FDA approved medications. Its success rate is five times higher than traditional detox. Heroin and other addictions are treated in four days by Clarity, not months.
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