TV host Wendy Williams revealed to Page Six that she struggled with a years-long cocaine habit before seeking professional help. “Look, I was very popular at the time I decided to stop. If I were to be busted that would’ve definitely been New York Post front cover,” she said. “I just woke up one day and I said, ‘Girl, you need to stop before it really goes down.’” Williams noted that she’d developed the habit while working in radio. “I never got busted by the cops. Honestly, I was highcareening around Manhattan and New Jersey high,” she added. “I come from a two-parent household…I come from a good family and I had never shamed them, and plus I earned my career.” As Williams enters the tenth season of The Wendy Williams Show, she and her Hunter Foundation are launching a philanthropic campaign called “Be Here,” which is squarely aimed at combating substance abuse.
Burt Reynolds: ‘I Couldn’t Beat Prescription Drugs On My Own’
Megastar Burt Reynolds, who passed away Thursday at 82, struggled with substance abuse in the 1980s and 1990s, according to People. The actor was very open about his addictions in order to help others, the story said. In 1992, he revealed that he’d been addicted to the prescription sleeping pill Halcion while shooting the film City Heat with Clint Eastwood. “I broke my jaw and shattered my temporomandibular joint. The pain was worse than a migraine. It is like having an army of people inside your head trying to get out through ears, eyes, your nose. It never stops,” he said, taking as many as 50 Halcion pills a day at one point. When he abruptly quit the drug, he lapsed into a coma for “eight or nine hours” in a Los Angeles hospital. Reynolds later checked himself into a rehab facility in West Palm Beach, Florida to overcome his addiction. “I felt that in spite of the fact that I am supposedly a big tough guy, I couldn’t beat prescription drugs on my own,” he said. “I’ve worked hard to get off of them and really hope other people will realize they need to seek professional help, rather than ignoring the problem or trying to get off of the prescriptions on their own.”
Actor, Sobriety Advocate Christopher Lawford Dies
Actor and author Christopher Kennedy Lawford, nephew of John F. Kennedy, died of a heart attack Tuesday, the Associated Press (AP) reported. In his later years, following a life riddled with substance abuse, Lawford had become a very vocal advocate for sobriety and addiction recovery including being arrested twice for drug possession at age 30. “There are many days when I wish I could take back and use my youth more appropriately,” Lawford told the AP in 2005. “But all of that got me here. I can’t ask for some of my life to be changed and still extract the understanding and the life that I have today.” Lawford’s cousin, former US Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy, said he “was the absolute cornerstone to my sobriety, along with my wife” and that he “was the one who walked me through all the difficult days of that early period.” Lawford was 63.
NFL Players’ Drug Abuse Lawsuit Reinstated by Court
A drug abuse-related lawsuit filed by former National Football League (NFL) players was reinstated on Thursday. The lawsuit contends that NFL players “suffered permanent damage, addiction or other harm from being routinely given opioids and painkillers to keep them on the field,” Bloomberg reported. A federal judge had previously thrown out the lawsuit in 2014, but it was reversed by the US Court of Appeals in San Francisco, which found that the players’ claims had merit. Retired players, including Chicago Bears stars Richard Dent and Jim McMahon, allege that a “culture of drug misuse” exists in the NFL, including opioids, anesthetics and anti-inflammatories, in order to keep players on the field despite their injuries. In fact, Dent says that he was given “hundreds, if not thousands” of injections and pills by doctors and trainers, which left him with nerve damage and an addiction to painkillers, among other health problems. “We have strong arguments against the merits of the case,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said. “Every claim brought by every plaintiff was dismissed for a variety of reasons and we expect the same outcome.”
Experimental Non-Opioid Painkiller Results Are Promising
Pfizer and Eli Lilly announced some promising findings around the non-opioid painkiller tanezumab this week. A 16-week Phase 3 study with osteoarthritis pain resulted in “reduction in pain, improvement in physical functioning, and better manageability of … pain,” a Forbes story revealed. Tanezumab belongs to a class of painkillers known as “nerve growth factor inhibitors” that are intended to be injected every two months. If the drug is approved, the non-opioid drug “would offer a promising and welcome addition to the arsenal of pain medications and devices aimed at alleviating pain,” though there remains a big hurdle: insurance. According to a recent study, the Forbes piece said, commercial and public payers covered only one-third of people who use the painkilling skin patch Butrans (buprenorphine). The majority of American insurance plans currently cover traditional opioids instead of alternative medications, which poses a considerable challenge for drugmakers trying to fight the opioid crisis.
Naltrexone Reduces Heavy Drinking Among HIV Patients
According to a study published in the journal AIDS and Behavior, extended-release naltrexone had a positive impact on HIV patients. The drug was directly responsible for reducing the number of “heavy drinking days” among those patients in a four-year study. Naltrexone, also known as ReVia and Vivitrol, was studied for its effect on a group of 51 HIV patients—the majority of whom self-reported fewer than four days of drinking in the past four weeks. Each of the study’s participants received injections of naltrexone at four-week intervals over the course of 24 weeks. “Participants also received counseling that integrated medication coaching and medical management to address ART adherence, incorporate clinical advice and skills, and offer referrals to Alcoholics Anonymous,” the story said.
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