Has VH1 pulled the plug on the popular show Celebrity Rehab? The network has no current plans for 2012 versions of Celebrity Rehab, or its spin-off Celebrity Rehab Presents Sober House, but the official word from the network is that programs are not cancelled and future editions are off the schedule due to scheduling issues, EW.com reported.

While the Dr. Drew-hosted show has been popular, drawing a lot of publicity for the network, the idea of taking the very private process of substance abuse treatment public and showing it on the small screen has been questioned. Proponents argue that the celebrities who appear on the show ARE getting professional help — despite the cameras.

Tragedy struck last year, though, when two previous participants died. Jeff Conaway, who appeared on season two of Celebrity Rehab, passed away from complications from taking prescription medications. Season three participant and former Sober House resident Alice in Chains bassist Mike Starr died after mixing Xanax and alcohol.

The network aired five seasons of Celebrity Rehab, including two editions in 2010, EW.com reported. The show, set at Southern California’s Pasadena Recovery Center, was considered a success for the network, averaging about 1 million viewers per episode, higher than the network’s 600,000 primetime average.

The shows could still return, but they remain off the schedule for now and Dr. Drew is currently focusing on his daytime CW talk show, Lifechangers.

Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment at La Paloma

If you or someone you love needs help with alcohol or drug addiction issues, call La Paloma at the toll-free number on our homepage. Someone is there to take your call 24 hours a day and answer any questions you have about treatment, financing or insurance.

Addiction is a lifelong battle. If you don’t believe that, take a look at Redmond O’Neal’s troubled path. Farrah Fawcett and Ryan O’Neal’s son was back in court this month after being caught with illegal drugs at the clinic where he was undergoing court-ordered drug treatment.

O’Neal was in possession of methamphetamine and, as a result, he appeared before a judge who ordered him back to jail for the alleged probation violation. He will return to court soon for a full hearing to decide whether he will stay in jail or return to rehab.

O’Neal originally entered substance abuse rehab to avoid prison time when he pleaded no contest to felony gun and heroin possession just a few weeks ago. The judge agreed to let him serve his sentence with a one-year rehab program. It definitely wasn’t his first brush with the law, though. O’Neal has struggled with drug addiction since he was a teenager. He was convicted on two drug offenses two years ago, but was released a year ago from sober living facility in California.

Drug Addiction Treatment

If you or someone you love is in need of drug treatment, call La Paloma at our toll-free number. Someone is there to take your call 24 hours a day and answer any questions you have about treatment, financing or insurance.

Actor Eric Dane, who plays Dr. Mark Sloan on the hit show Grey’s Anatomy, has diagnosed himself in need of treatment. The star of the medical drama recently confirmed to CNN that he has “voluntarily checked himself into a treatment facility to help him get off pain medication that he was prescribed for a sports injury that he suffered over the recent hiatus.”

Prescription Drug Detox

Prescription painkillers, while helpful when used as directed for a short period of time, can be highly addictive and are prone to abuse. In addition, detox from prescription meds can be tricky and should only be done under a doctor’s care.

The story originally surfaced when the tabloid The Star reported that the 38-year-old had checked in to a Los Angeles rehabilitation clinic for a 30-day stay.

Dane’s move is part of a positive trend in Hollywood that includes celebs seeking treatment proactively, rather than waiting until a problem with drugs or alcohol leads to unflattering stories and creates larger legal, personal or professional problems.

Danes has plenty of reasons to take care of himself and get back to health. In addition to his plum TV role, his wife Rebecca Gayheart is pregnant with the couple’s second child, a sibling for one-year-old daughter Billie Beatrice. His TV show resumed production on July 19, and Dane’s rep says his client planned to report back to work on time.
While addiction isn’t easy to overcome, no matter what the substance, seeking treatment early and being open and honest about the problem can go a long way toward sobriety and a full, healthy life in recovery.

Drug Detox

If you or someone you love is in need of a drug detox for prescription painkillers, call La Paloma at our toll-free number. Someone is there to take your call 24 hours a day and answer any questions you have about drug treatment, financing or insurance.

It’s perfectly understandable that a major life event would have you considering using again. After all, that was your primary way of coping for a long time. Before you begin to panic, though, give yourself credit for being honest. Feeling that urge and acting on it are two very different things, and one doesn’t have to lead to the other. In fact, recognizing that urge and knowing where it comes from shows just how far you’ve already come.

Relapsing Won’t Help Anything

Now use that newfound self-awareness to take the scenario a step further. While you may have an immediate desire to numb your feelings with drugs, you also know that those unhealthy habits never solved any problems for you, they just created new ones. And those feelings you were trying so hard to suppress? They remained just below the surface, refusing to go away because you hadn’t ever really dealt with them. Relapsing won’t help anything, it will just cause more trauma that you’ll eventually have to confront.

Dealing with heartache or loss stone-cold sober is difficult, but it’s the right thing to do. It allows you to grieve or deal with problems in a way that lets you hold your head up in the long run. By processing what’s going on and getting through it instead of drowning your feelings in drug and alcohol addiction, you have the opportunity to get past the problem and move on in a positive way that substance use will never provide you.

We know you’ve heard it before, but recovery is a lifelong process. You’re never declared “cured” from addiction, but with ongoing support and the tools you learned in treatment, you can get through life’s disappointments clean and sober, and come out a better, more whole person on the other side.

Relapse Prevention Help

If you or someone you love is battling a relapse, call La Paloma at our toll-free number. Someone is there to take your call 24 hours a day and answer any questions you have about treatment, financing or insurance.

Grammy-winning singer Whitney Houston may have been destined to be a star. Her mother is gospel artist Cissy Houston, her godmother is none other than Aretha Franklin and she counts Dionne Warwick among her cousins. Unfortunately, Houston’s amazing talent has been tempered by her significant substance abuse issues. Now the woman with the huge voice is getting help for her addiction problems.

Whitney Houston in Rehab

It was recently confirmed that Houston has voluntarily entered an outpatient rehab program for alcohol and drug treatment. “Whitney voluntarily entered the program to support her long-standing recovery process,” according to Houston spokesperson Kristen Foster.

No details about the treatment or events leading up to the singer’s decision to seek help were released, but fans will remember Houston postponed several shows on the European leg of her “Nothing But Love” comeback tour in 2010. While attributed to illness, those cancellations had many speculating that Houston’s troubles were related to substance use.

Addiction Treatment

If you or someone you love is battling a substance abuse problem, call La Paloma at our toll-free number. Someone is there to take your call 24 hours a day and answer any questions you have about treatment, financing or insurance.

Grease star Jeff Conaway has long battled an addiction to prescription painkillers related to injuries that left him with long-term back pain and other health issues. He’s appeared on Celebrity Rehab in an attempt to tackle his substance abuse, but he continues to make news for his brushes with the law related to his addiction. The latest story finds Conaway’s ex-fiance, Vikki Lizzi, filing for a temporary restraining order after claiming she was punched in the face while driving and her life was threatened verbally.

The alleged violent incident was documented in the restraining order and police report Lizzi filed against her boyfriend of seven years.

Lizzi (aka Vikki Spinoza) made her domestic battery claim to the LAPD while applying for the temporary restraining order, which describes her eye injury as “black and purple.” This isn’t the first time Lizzi has claimed Conaway injured her.

Celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred is now involved, representing Lizzi as the two exes will battle it out in court. Conaway has filed charges of his own, alleging that Lizzi injected him with painkillers and planted cocaine in the Los Angeles house they shared before attempting to orchestrate a police bust.

Lizzi has likened Conaway’s alleged painkiller addiction to substance use problems of another star. “He doesn’t admit he has any kind of problem with the pain meds, but in fact it’s the same situation that Michael Jackson was in, and he’s gonna be dead very soon if he doesn’t get help,” she told the media.

The pair is expected to return to court on April 11, 2011. Meanwhile, Conaway has been forced to move out of the Southern California home they shared.

Substance Abuse Treatment

Sadly, what the legal proceedings won’t do is get either one any help they may need for ongoing substance abuse issues. If you or someone you love is battling an addiction or co-occurring disorder, call La Paloma at our toll-free number. Someone is there to take your call 24 hours a day and answer any questions you have about treatment, financing or insurance.

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) recently released a comprehensive study that tracked alcohol consumption per capita for every state in the U.S. Essentially, the NIAAA gathered up data on alcohol sales for each state and then divided it by census population numbers, including any person 14 or older, accounting for underage drinkers in each state. The study didn’t just look at overall consumption, but it also broke down their figures by beer, wine and spirits.

The numbers, which are for 2007 (the latest year studied), are based on alcohol sales in each state, so there’s no way to confirm that everything purchased was actually consumed. The study figures show alcohol consumption in terms of ethanol (or pure alcohol) consumed per capita in terms of gallons.

New Hampshire topped the list, with 4.22 gallons of ethanol consumed per capita in 2007. Washington, DC followed behind with a rate of 3.95 gallons consumed. Nevada and Delaware have the dubious distinction of coming in third and fourth, respectively, with totals of 3.61 and 3.23.

So which state consumed the least amount of alcohol? Utah takes that honor, with 1.34 gallons consumed per capita. West Virginia is next with 1.76 gallons consumed. Arkansas and Kentucky nearly tied for third place, with consumption rates of 1.84 and 185 respectively. Also coming under 2.0 were Tennessee, Oklahoma and Kansas.

Alcohol Treatment

If you or someone you love is battling an addiction or co-occurring disorder, call La Paloma at the toll-free number on our homepage. Someone is there to take your call 24 hours a day and answer any questions you have about treatment, financing or insurance.

Has the stigma of addiction done a complete 180-degree turn? In the past, those in the public eye were afraid to admit they struggled with drug or alcohol addiction for fear of the negative impact on their career. But in today’s “reality TV” culture, serious problems like addiction can lead to massive media coverage – and a higher profile in attention-hungry Hollywood.

Charlie Sheen is cashing in on his issues with a new sold-out road show. And White House party-crasher Michaele Salahi recently signed on to do VH1’s Celebrity Rehab, before being released from the show because experts found she didn’t have an addiction.

Why would someone without an addiction issue want to enter rehab? That remains to be seen, but Salahi’s manager was quick to insist the network knew that was the case all along. Sheen, meanwhile, managed to keep his job on the top-rated sitcom Two and a Half Men after drug-related legal and personal issues, only being let go after public rants against the show’s creator and the network.

While the recovery community has viewed the lessening of the stigma of addiction as a positive and healthy change, this new development could make addiction seem like something to strive for. It’s a danger that parents and educators need to be aware of.

Addiction Rehab

If you or someone you love is battling an addiction, call La Paloma at our toll-free number. Someone is there to take your call 24 hours a day and answer any questions you have about treatment, financing or insurance.

Drug trafficking is taken seriously in the U.S., but in some foreign countries, it’s grounds for execution. According to CNN.com, Philippines Vice President Jejomar Binay traveled to Beijing in mid-February to appeal to the Chinese government for clemency for three Filipinos set to be executed a week later for drug trafficking. The three in question were arrested in 2008 and have already been convicted of drug trafficking in China, a crime that is punishable in that country by death.

An Appeal for Filipino Drug Traffickers

Binay arrived in China carrying a letter from President Benigno Aquino III asking for clemency for the three Filipinos on humanitarian grounds, according to Filipino media reports. In a public statement before his departure, Binay said, “We do not condone drug trafficking. However, we believe that these Filipinos were merely victims of international drug syndicates. I carry with me the prayers of the Filipino people that clemency could be granted on humanitarian grounds.”

The personal appeal apparently worked – at least for now. China has decided to “postpone the execution within the scope of the Chinese law,” the two nations said in a joint statement after Binay met with Wang Shengjun, president of China’s Supreme People’s Court (SPC) and senior foreign policy officials.

“The Philippine side stated that it fully respects China’s law and the verdict of the SPC,” the statement continued. “The Philippines and China are determined to work together in the fight against transnational crimes. Including drug trafficking.”

Drug Addiction Treatment

If you or someone you love is battling an addiction or co-occurring disorder, call La Paloma at our toll-free number. Someone is there to take your call 24 hours a day and answer any questions you have about treatment, financing or insurance.

Illness doesn’t just affect those who are sick, it affects all those around them as well, creating a hardship on the whole family. But when an individual gets a diagnosis of cancer or suffers a heart attack, loved ones are usually sympathetic. When someone is battling the disease of addiction, support is harder to come by, in part due to misunderstandings about the nature of substance abuse and frustration at the behaviors that often accompany it.

Need for Addiction Treatment

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) reports that 23.6 million Americans age 12 or older needed treatment for an illicit drug or alcohol abuse problem, but only 10.8 percent of this population received treatment at a facility specializing in the treatment of substance abuse disorders. That would be unheard of, if we were talking about any other disease, but addiction also brings with it a lot of denial. It also can lead to job loss, relationship issues, and financial and health problems. These can lead to shame, making treatment even less likely.

Despite its differences, addiction is a disease and responds best to professional treatment, whether in a residential or outpatient setting. Treatment is the best insurance against relapse, and the best shot at long-term sobriety and health.

Addiction Treatment

If you or someone you love is battling an addiction, call La Paloma at our toll-free number. Someone is there to take your call 24 hours a day and answer any questions you have about treatment, financing or insurance.