You don’t have to be a One Direction fan to recognize that Liam Payne’s death at age 31 is a tragedy. Any young life cut short, especially as his was, is immensely sad.
And the impact on his family is immeasurable, especially on his seven-year-old son, who will now grow up without a father.
I have seen so many young adults like Liam lose their lives to addiction and it is heartbreaking. It’s a waste.
According to Argentine media, the autopsy revealed that he had consumed a drug cocktail that included something called “pink cocaine,” which contains methamphetamine, ketamine and MDMA, along with crack cocaine and benzodiazepines.
Since Liam’s untimely death there has been a sudden interest in “pink cocaine.” However, for those of us who have worked in the ER or substance abuse services, this drug is not new. It is a dangerous substance, made from a combination of two or more drugs, so users have no real idea what it contains or in what concentration.
Former One Direction star Liam Payne died aged 31 after taking a drug cocktail that included something called “pink cocaine”.
Pink cocaine is a dangerous substance, made from a combination of two or more drugs.
Despite its name, it does not usually contain cocaine. Taking this medication is like Russian roulette in terms of what you get and what the experience is like. I have seen several people end up in the hospital with severe psychosis and others who stopped breathing or had seizures.
If we can take anything from Liam’s shocking death, it is a greater awareness of the dangers of this harmful and unpredictable substance.
For me, the real tragedy is how Liam fought his addiction for so long, only to finally succumb. While some may cope with all sorts of turbulence in their life, for others there is a constant search for respite from their demons, and drugs, I am sorry to say, give the illusion of offering just that.
I have spent many years working in substance abuse services and yes, I am tough when it comes to addiction. You can be kind, thoughtful, and compassionate while still recognizing that addiction is a choice.
In my clinics we can explore the reasons why you might be addicted, but these are not excuses. I am firm with my patients, but I appreciate that once addiction has taken hold, it can hit so hard that many cannot imagine being free of it.
I understand that the family of an addict will want to believe that their loved one was the target of traffickers. That they are innocent victims and would be clean if it weren’t for the others.
But to me this shows a misunderstanding of addiction. Drug dealers rarely target people like this. You must look for them. Distributors are business people, they say no several times and move on, especially when there are many other willing customers.
And let’s not forget peer pressure, the so-called friends who encourage you. Every addict wants someone else to share their drugs or alcohol with. It helps them deny that they have a problem.
If you are rich, others often see you as a source of income, a way to finance your own habits. But again, the parasites soon move away if the products are not produced: after all, they are addicts and the only thing they really care about is their next fix. The problem is that the addiction is still there, and if someone shows up offering a solution at the wrong time, boom, you can go back to square one.
This is the real tragedy: people desperately trying to break free from the iron grip of addiction, only to succumb. To truly escape, the reality is that you must understand why you became addicted. This is what I tell patients and their families: getting clean is just the beginning.
Once you have managed to stop using substances, the real work begins. This often involves long, intense psychotherapy exploring why you were seeking anesthesia. It is a painful process to surface and confront things that people have spent years burying.
Often, a person becomes abstinent, only for the next step to be too painful and disruptive. But if you fail to exorcise the demons underlying addiction, you are destined to embark on a terrible journey of rehabilitation, withdrawal, and relapse.
Every addict I’ve ever met wishes they’d never started. If any good can come from Liam’s tragedy, it is that a generation of his fans will see how terrible addiction is and think twice before saying yes to illicit substances.
Chris Hoy’s prostate cancer diagnosis at age 48 has shocked many. Do we take prostate cancer seriously enough? More men than women die from breast cancer annually. Yet breast cancer research more than doubles the financing.
I’m sick of dealing with gangsters.
All those politicians and celebrities who defended gangster Chris Kaba should hang their heads in shame now that the details of his criminal past have been published.
Throughout my career I have worked in areas of inner London beset by gang violence (including the gang, 67, of which Kaba was a member) and currently have several former members as patients.
I spend a lot of time working with them to address the trauma that they have not only perpetrated, but also witnessed and been subjected to. Gang violence is an absolute plague, but it seems like very few in power really want to address it. Instead, it’s up to doctors like me to try to help people pick up the pieces. I’m sick of it.
Chris Kaba, 24, was shot in the head by Sergeant Martyn Blake during a car stop in Streatham, south London, on September 5, 2022.
Gangs are destroying communities and killing and maiming young people. Almost all of my ex-gang patients have been stabbed. Most have lost friends, sometimes in terrible circumstances.
Every year, hundreds of young people are stabbed, shot and killed. Enough is enough: it is criminals like Kaba who deserve the opprobrium, not the police.
Bruce Springsteen has said he believes Trump is “mentally ill.” Many other people on social media seem to agree. I wish people would stop invoking mental illness when they disagree with someone and their views.
Nowadays, everyone seems to think they’re a psychiatrist. Forget a medical degree and years of specialized training, a quick Google should do the trick, right? You can imagine how much this bothers me.
It’s not just the fact that these armchair doctors have the arrogance to think they know what they’re talking about when they clearly don’t, but it’s also extremely offensive to those who suffer from mental illness.
The suggestion seems to be that if Trump can be shown to be mentally ill, then he is unfit to be president. What nonsense! The reality is that mental illness does not (and should not) prevent anyone from holding public office. It’s just idiotic shorthand for “I don’t like this person,” and it’s particularly repellent because it relies on the stigma and fear of mental illness to do it.
Dr. Max prescribes… online help
The new NHS project ‘Get Your Mind Plan – Every Mind Matters’ aims to help people with problems before they develop into full-blown psychiatric conditions.
I was involved in producing one part: a personalized action plan with tips to deal with stress, anxiety, sleep, and feel more in control. I hope it helps. Search for ‘NHS Every Mind Matters Mindset Plan’.
The new NHS project ‘Get Your Mind Plan – Every Mind Matters’ aims to help people with problems before they develop into full-blown psychiatric illnesses.
