If you have a son or daughter who is a musician, or aspires to be one, you might also have heard from them that drugs and alcohol get their creative juices flowing. The MusiCares MAP Fund, which has save the lives and careers of many musicians by getting them through drug rehab, dispels that idea.

Parents, family members and friends sometimes struggle for years to get the musicians in their lives into drug rehab. As long as a musician thinks their creativity depends on it, the pleas are likely to fall on deaf ears. But if they hear it from another musician – especially musicians who are undeniably successful – it might get through.

The 7th Annual MusiCares MAP Fund Benefit Concert welcomed many of those musicians, and honored Depeche Mode singer Dave Gahan. Gahan, who after years of drug abuse survived a suicide attempt and a heroin overdose, lived to pick up his career and has now been sober for years.

“To be honest,” said Gahan, “If you go down that route, drugs are going to take command over everything you’re doing anyway, and that’s been my experience anyway,” said the U.K. born vocalist. “I went through a period before I got clean where I don’t think I played a record for like two years. I just didn’t care.”

In the end, that’s what drugs can do to you. All you care about are the drugs.

Take it from the many artists who have fought their addictions and won: Steven Tyler, frontman for Aerosmith, Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page, Grace Slick – the list goes on and on.

And, you will notice, many still have illustrious careers.

But hundreds have been lost. Here’s a short list:

• Elvis Presley
• Janis Joplin
• Jimi Hendrix
• Tim Buckley
• Tim Hardin
• Alan Wilson (from Canned Heat)
• Brent Mydland and Ron McKernan (from Grateful Dead)
• Dee Dee Ramone (from The Ramones)
• Gram Parsons (from The Byrds)
• Gregory Herbert (from Blood, Sweat & Tears)
• Hillel Slovak (from Red Hot Chili Peppers)
• John Belushi (from Blues Brothers)]
• John Bonham (from Led Zeppelin)
• John Kahn (from Jerry Garcia Band)
• Jonathan Melvoin (from Smashing Pumpkins)
• Keith Moon (from The Who)
• Mike Bloomfield and Paul Butterfield (from Butterfield Blues Band)

and many, many more. If you check out the full list, just of well-known musicians, their average age when they died was 31.

Ask your musician friends if they want to risk ending their careers at the ripe old age of 31. Or would they rather still be playing to sold-out venues in their 60’s, like Steven Tyler and Eric Clapton?

Use this type of information to get your musician friends or relatives into drug or alcohol rehab. You may save their lives and careers. And, as many of the most successful musicians in the world will attest, it will also make them better musicians.

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In the last little while there have been several articles and news items about how kids who start drinking when they’re young have a good chance of eventually winding up with an alcohol problem and needing alcohol rehab as an adult.

But a new study now also shows that, not only are those kids more likely to need help when they grow older, they’re also having their brains damaged.

Alcohol is not easy on the body – and that includes the brain. From 12 to 20 years old is a very important period for brain development. If someone that age is binge drinking, for example, they’re damaging themselves for life.

According to the researchers in an animal study, MRIs revealed a smaller forebrain in those who have had a lot of alcohol.

Interestingly enough, the specific parts of the brain that show damage are exactly what anyone associated with an alcoholic would expect – those parts of the brain are related to being able to make correct decisions, allowing us to “predict consequences of our actions, control our impulses, refine our reasoning, and evaluate long- and short-term rewards.”

Amazing because, really, those are usually the exact problems parents of drinkers observe. And the same is obviously true for some adult drinkers.

The researchers also said “While these subtle brain changes are not making you a monster, they’re making you a less talented person or a person more prone to do stupid things whether you’re drinking or not.”

Just what we need.

Kids drinking in their teens, at college, and so on, not only seems to be accepted by the majority of Americans, it’s a right of passage. But what is it doing to our kids, and the future of the country?

If your kid is drinking and won’t stop, realize that it’s not just a kid thing. You’re dealing with alcohol addiction. Get help for them now by contacting a drug and alcohol rehab facility. It means a better future to them, for you, and for everyone. In fact, it could save their lives.

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Charlie Sheen has gotten himself into quite a mess. He’s been living hard – lots of drugs, lots of alcohol, and partying for days on end. It’s hurting his career but, more importantly, it really seems to be taking its toll on his mental and emotional state. He’s on a home-based drug rehab program or, at least, he was. But is that really going to work for him? I doubt it.

A successful drug rehab program takes months, and you need a team of professionals to help you through it. Getting off the drugs or alcohol is the first step, which in itself can be painful, sometimes dangerous and definitely needs supervision, then there’s getting all the residual drugs out of the body and getting healthy, thoroughly identifying and addressing the reason the person needs drugs and alcohol in the first place, and then setting things up so when the person leaves the rehab facility they can go back into the environment knowing they’ll be able to stay on the path.

With Sheen’s condition right now, I’d say that’s the least he needs.

But there is another possibility that might work – joining Sean Penn in Haiti. Sean went there a year ago planning on staying for a few days or weeks and is basically still there. On a recent TV show, he was referred to as the mayor of a 55,000 strong tent city. According to recent news reports, Sean and Charlie are friends. And Sean would welcome Charlie’s help.

Joining his friend in Haiti might be just what Charlie needs. It can really change a person to leave their cushy environment and spend some time helping others – not just with money, but actually getting involved in the physicality of it all. And, in Haiti, there’s no end to the physicality needed.

An experience like that can really change a person’s values and priorities. They come out of it seeing life differently. Whatever is bothering them and causing their drug addiction often pales in the light of what others have to live with every day. And it might bring Charlie back to earth.

Let’s hope, for Charlie’s sake, and his family’s, that he takes Sean up on his offer.

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When I first saw the headline of a recent news story – Study supports call to allow addicts to shape treatment – I thought it was a pretty crazy idea. If addicts were capable of determining their own treatment, wouldn’t they already be off drugs or alcohol? Then I read the story and couldn’t see how it was possible to do a successful alcohol or drug rehab without the basics they were talking about.

The story started with a man who, years ago, finally got up the courage to go to his doctor to ask for help with his drinking problem. The doctor simply told him to “pull up his socks and stop drinking.” If that’s all there was to it, the number of alcoholics and drug addicts in society wouldn’t even be a problem. Most addicts and alcoholics want to quit. But they can’t, without help.

I would hope that doctor has now learned that when a drug addict or alcoholic finally asks for help, you better jump on it. It takes a lot to get to that point.

Finally, without the help of his doctor, the man got help. And he is now helping others in cooperation with a U.K. charity.

What’s the difference between his program and others? In addition to 24-hour support and other community back-up, the program also has a small fund from which recovering addicts can borrow to tend to basic needs like having enough money to take the bus to work.

It’s amazing that something this trivial can prevent someone from successfully recovering from drug or alcohol abuse. But, really, it’s sometimes the little things that trip us up most.

All drug and alcohol rehab programs, to be successful, have to take into consideration all the aspects of a person’s life that could possibly trip them up once they complete their time in rehab and get back into the stream of life. If you’re helping someone through recovery, make sure you ask about and pay attention to the little things.

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People from all walks of life can very easily get sucked into a life of drug and alcohol addiction. It’s not a problem that any one group of individuals is more prone to experiencing. But, have you ever thought that your own doctor could be addicted to drugs or alcohol?

Unfortunately physicians can also fall into the grips of addiction. They not only wreck their own personal lives and those of their families, but what do you think this does to their ability to effectively treat patients? Scary thought, huh? I certainly wouldn’t want a doctor who is high on drugs managing my health, especially if I was sick with a major disease that required critical thinking. And what about surgeons who are operating on patients?

There was a recent survey done that showed some pretty alarming information, most notably, that doctors are not likely to report their colleagues if they know about or suspect drug abuse. The survey found that only one in three doctors would report the problem. The reasons being that they feared retribution by the offender or that they would be getting their colleague into trouble.

In Florida, a program has been put in place for this type of scenario to be avoided. They offer a reporting program for doctors to be able to report their colleagues or themselves, with a solution to the problem being offered, rather than revoking their license and turning them away. Doctors have the opportunity to clean up. They are required stop practicing medicine and attend a drug or alcohol rehab program, but once they’re clean, they can go back to practice.

What a concept! Why is this only available for doctors? Most of the time, you not only lose your job, but chances are, you could wind up in jail if you’re doing drugs. This gives people a great opportunity to regain their lives and live sober again. I’m in full agreement and think this is a great program. Give people a chance to make the right choice!

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Did you know that a single alcoholic drink can triple your chances of dying in a car accident while you’re driving? A new study that was done in New Zealand has proven this startling information to be true. Most people are unaware of how little alcohol it takes to make it dangerous to get behind the wheel.

The legal Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) limit in all of the United States is .08%. Since everyone is different, reaching the legal limit will depend on the number of drinks, the amount of time in which they were consumed, your weight and your gender. And, apparently there is enough impairment after only one drink that it increases your chances of dying behind the wheel.

This information is really scary when you think of young people who are not only inexperienced drivers, but also inexperienced drinkers. They don’t know their limits when it comes to either activity. Binge drinking is very common amongst younger drinkers and they’re most likely going way beyond the legal limit.

But, you certainly don’t have to be young to make it dangerous. If one drink raises the level of danger by 30%, it’s better to play it safe and not get behind the wheel. Since you can’t plan on being in an accident, why not plan on having someone else drive who isn’t drinking? Draw straws, take turns being the designated driver or cab it for the night. It’s not safe to get behind the wheel with any amount of alcohol in your system.

Shedding new light on drinking and driving has caused other countries to look at decreasing their legal limit. I think this would be wise to do globally. Victims of drunk driving are not only the drinkers, but other people who get caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.

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A recent article discussed the rise in the number of alcohol-related deaths in college-age kids. They increased by about 25% over a 7 year period. About 30 percent were actually in college. When we were our kids’ age, our parents didn’t have to worry so much about these things when we were going off to college. They didn’t think needing alcohol rehab would be an outcome of higher education.

Sure, they worried – about our grades, about the pressure, about how we’d do our first time away from home, and so on – but not about whether we were going to die from binge drinking, driving while drunk or being in a car with someone who was drunk, or having some other kind of accident that would never have happened had we not been drunk.

Personally, if my kid was already drinking before going to college, I’d send them to a good alcohol treatment center before college. I’d also pull them out of college temporarily to make sure they got treatment before they continued school. They’d not only be safer, they’d get a better education.

Did you know that binge drinking – which is how a lot of drinking in college is done, not in some moderate fashion, and it only consists of 4 or 5 drinks at a time – affects the brain? Numerous studies have been done.  Some show impaired memory and more than usual concentration necessary to perform simple tasks (even for people who drink like that only once a week), and some show that critical thinking is impaired for an entire month after one night of binge drinking.

Does that sound like the state they should be in to get a college education? Does that sound like an environment you want to send your kid into? I’d go out of my way to keep my kid OUT of college if those were the consequences.

Yes, most kids survive it all. But many continue on to become heavy drinkers throughout their lives. Not to mention that the vast majority of people graduating college don’t get a job doing what they studied for. Could it be they were too out of it to even know that they weren’t really interested in what they were studying?

It’s time to start taking college a little more seriously. And it’s up to the parents to make sure that’s how their kids feel about it, too. Shore them up against the college environment with alcohol and drug education, even if that means getting them through an alcohol and drug treatment program before they go, and make sure they have a real purpose for the college education they’ll be getting; that will also help keep them focused.

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