Most people have no idea how addiction takes hold and it's not just illegal drugs. It's also Rx's which also disrupt the brain and body chemistry in an attempt to treat a specific physical or mental issue. That disruption is why there is a ton of side effects listed for every pill you take. So if you want to point the finger at Bobby Brown, make sure you also point the finger at the FDA and giant pharmaceutical companies who are allowed to push their products on the doctors within the medical community who in turn freely distribute drugs while not giving enough thought to addiction potential and how difficult that is to break away from. So it makes no difference whether legal or illegal, drugs disrupt the body chemistry. She wasn't the first well know personality to have this happen and she won't be the last. Of course we don't have the media to tell us all about the thousands of everyday residents who have faced this as well.

Pehaps in her final moments she truly surrendered and understood her stance before Christ. Remember even the thief on the cross in his final moments yielded and was saved. Our thoughts and prayers need to be with the family!

E.D.,, One of the top-selling musical artists of all times and the most awarded female singer in history — who spent four years going to high school in Caldwell — has died suddenly. I think this warrants some breaking news in the Caldwells.

I'll just paste in the same.....
Most people have no idea how addiction takes hold and it's not just illegal drugs. It's also Rx's which also disrupt the brain and body chemistry in an attempt to treat a specific physical or mental issue. That disruption is why there is a ton of side effects listed for every pill you take. So if you want to point the finger at Bobby Brown, make sure you also point the finger at the FDA and giant pharmaceutical companies who are allowed to push their products on the doctors within the medical community who in turn freely distribute drugs while not giving enough thought to addiction potential and how difficult that is to break away from. So it makes no difference whether legal or illegal, drugs disrupt the body chemistry. She wasn't the first well know personality to have this happen and she won't be the last. Of course we don't have the media to tell us all about the thousands of everyday residents who have faced this as well.

Well put.

You go girl. She made just a couple of bads choices in her life. Not really her fault. You know, the media thing and the Paparazzi.

Amen! Rest in Peace, Whitney. Please, people, can we not bash this poor woman who's gone and cannot defend herself? Let's be more charitable in spirit.

There's no mystery whatsoever about her passing if you've had experience with addiction yourself or treat others who battle it. When you depress the central nervous system with chemicals, your body grows tolerant of the previous dosage which then requires higher dosages to get the same effect as you begin to suffer the withdrawals. If you then take more of it and combine it with alcohol which is also a CNS depressant, you become sedated to a dangerous point.

To not use this opportunity to question the FDA allowing giant pharmaceutical companies to produce dangerous addicting drugs who then send their sales reps into the medical community who then freely prescribe them too often, if you don't use this as a lesson then when will we?

You can't blame the FDA or the pharmaceutical companies or the sales reps if the doctors or patients disregard the label warnings.

Ricky, how is the death of Whitney Houston (or any patient) good for big pharmaceutical companies' business?

It depends on how long it takes someone to die vs. how many years they feed the addition. And many addicted people don't die. A very ugly percentage game.

The tobacco industry has been killing a percentage of their customers since forever.

Journey, I don't believe tobacco companies ever pretended their product was intended to cure or mitigate an illness or injury. On the other hand, pharmaceutical drug labels list every known adverse effect. The comparison doesn't hold water.

Tom, no not the passing of Whitney, it is 'addiction' that is good for business since sales remain high due to the extreme OVERUSE of their products that were never meant to be taken long term. The medical community freely prescribes drugs that in the end, leave their patients in a place that is much much worse than the place they were in when they first started taking these Rx's.

Why indict the whole pharmaceutical industry and medical profession when it's just a relatively few malpractitioners who are to blame? Anyway, drug overuse seems to be most prevalent among celebrities and athletes who have the means and influence to get the drugs. The media and witless fans certainly don't help when talented people are first made out to be larger than life and then viciously torn apart when the pressure leads them to drug abuse. You really can't blame the pharmaceutical industry and medical profession in all honesty.

"""Why indict the whole pharmaceutical industry and medical profession when it's just a relatively few malpractitioners who are to blame?""....just a few? You haven't been out there lately. It also holds true for anti-depressants not just the benzo class of drugs. The FDA needs to do its job and that involves phasing out the use of benzodiazpines because these drugs are being abused all the way down the chain, from the big pharm companies that crave the profits they generate to the doctors who feel guilty if they don't prescribe them, down to the patients who are not made aware that the use of these drugs puts you in a place that is far far worse than the place you were in when you first began using them.

If benzodiazpines are safe and effective in the short term, and are indicated and prescribed for use in that way, then you have to let the pharmaceutical companies and good practitioners off the hook. There's no question drugs can be harmful if misused, and it's hard to believe anyone is not aware of this with all of the information provided with pharmaceutical products.

If you have issues with capitalism, I respect that as a completely separate matter. But the pharmaceutical industry and medical profession cannot be blamed for malpractitioners and reckless or ignorant users - when the pharmaceutical industry and medical profession have provided all of the approved usages and warnings..

@deedee these addicts are crafty they know how to go to different doctors and pharmacies to hook themselves up.

The sad truth is that this is where we are as a society. Human beings are basically good, but weak. What will we do to make it better?

That’s a good point, I honestly wasn’t aware that flags were lowered for Clarence. I disagree with both cases since entertainers who were originally from NJ do not actually contribute anything to the state… other than allowing people to say; “hey, he/she was from NJ”!

In fairness to Governor Christie, he has ordered flags to half-staff for all military with New Jersey connections, police and firemen who have been killed in the line of duty.

He has also, on a few occassions, issued the order to honor people who can rightfully lay claim to the title off "statesmen" and for a long-time high school basketball coach (as such a government employee, who I believe compiled the most victories in state history).

Prior to Ms. Houston, he issued the order for Clemmons and for both, the honor was totally inapprorpiate.

While neither was a resident of the state at the time of their death, Ms. Houston was at least born here and lived here for a considerable time, neither of which can be said for Mr. Clemmons, who was born in Virginia and resided in Florida at the time of his death.

The flag issue came up when Clemmons passed but, his not being a star of Houston's magnitude, neither received anywhere the same level of attention.

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/video/#!/on-air/as-seen-on/Controversy-Over-Lowering-NJ-Flags-for-Whitney/139399933

Title 10 of the US Code (a/k/a The US Flag Code) governs the use and protocols concerning the flag and conveys the following authority to the Governor of a State, territory or possession of the United States:

"In the event of the death of a present or former official of the government of any State, territory, or possession of the United States, the Governor of that State, territory, or possession may proclaim that the National flag shall be flown at half-staff."

Whitney Houston does not qualify and Governor Christie violated the US Code with his Executive Order, as he did with Clarence Clemmons.

@ Rock: While Pennsylvania isn't germane to a discussion about an action being taken in New Jersey byt it's Governor, the PA Governor actually had the authority to lower flags for Paterno. Penn State is a State university and, by extension, Paterno was a government employee/official. It could more that reasonably be argued that Mr. Paterno lived a life in service to the State and its university.

Can New Jersey say such a thing about either Whitney Houston or Clarence Clemmons?

No, not by a long shot.

Per Wikipedia: "Benzodiazepines are commonly misused and taken in combination with other drugs of abuse." But, Ricky, it's not the FDA, pharmaceutical companies and the medical community that abuse the drug. Do you want the drug to be administered only at hospitals or clinics? Do you want the drug to be banned? Why infringe on the liberties of responsible doctors and patients when a few malpractitioners and drug abusers are to blame?

Yo Tom, we still keep it going lol. It's not just the benzo types of drugs that are being used, it's pain killers / opiates but since the topic is Whitney Houston, let's stick to benzos and alcohol for now. The FDA looks the other way so as to not disrupt the big machine wheel of the pharmaceutical industry. The pharm industry says don't blame us, we just make them (along with huge profits) but then they send their sales reps in full force going doctor office to doctor office with 'free samples' hoping for future wide-spread use of their products. Then the medical community with many now practicing on 'automatic pilot' have made a habit of just whipping out their Rx pads. It's so easy to just send patients off with that then to sit down and tell them to avoid these drugs at all costs since you will most likely end up in much worse shape than where you are right now before you begin using these drugs. Especially since alcohol which any adult can buy and not realize the dangers of taking them together ending in a dangerous point that could induce coma. Oh I've heard this argument before that nobody if forcing anyone to take them but people instinctively believe it only happens to someone else, not me, and so now you have a dangerous assumption.
Perhaps Whitney originally started with illegal drugs but then the doctor who did the blood tests and saw those results may have prescribed benzos as a way to wean her off of the illegals.

Hey, Ricky! It just sounds too conspiratorial to me. So, what do you propose as a solution? Bans? Regulations? Homeopathic remedies?

Tom, for me it sounds to be 'money' motivated. There has to be an on-going educational effort by public and private organizations (just like there's been with the anti-smoking campaign that's put a much needed stigma on smoking that has resulted in less smoking than in previous decades plus banning it in restaurants, etc). We need the same kind of educational effort to make the point that using Rx's will put you in a much worse place than where you were when you took these drugs for the very first time. And that using Rx's to solve your personal problems or to make tolerating a bad relationship, these are the wrong reasons to use Rx's. One of the most legal abused drugs today is ambien, a sleeping medication. It also disrupts your brain and body chemistry. Your own brain stops producing its own natural chemicals that control the sleep/wake cycle when you ingest ambien on a regular basis.. Our own body produces the right chemicals but FDA is allowing drugs to be marketed that over-ride and disrupt our body chemistry. The medical community knows this. If they don't then they should go back for some refresher courses. They also know the dangers of alcohol along with benzos but still just 'assume' patients will abide by the rules. Whitney did not.

No problem Frank- I mean the hell with the Law and the fact that the flag code does not exclude flying the flag at half staff for any citizen, whether they were in the military or not. We'll let our PBA decide who gets the respect and who doesn't. This way we can ignore the fact that we don't need authorization from the government to use the flag to honor any citizen. We'll show them ...right Frank !