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Prince

In the months leading up to Prince's death, his friends and family were reportedly becoming increasingly concerned with Prince's prescription drug use. On a flight home from an Atlanta concert, the Academy Award-winning singer overdosed on Percocet that he was taking for hip problems.

His flight made an emergency landing in Illinois, and medical personnel on the ground administered a shot of the opioid overdose reversal drug Narcan. The singer was rushed to the hospital, but he left against medical advice after three hours to return to his home in Minnesota.

During the following days, Prince's associates were in contact with a California addiction specialist to get the singer into a rehab facility. But before they could get him into rehab, Prince was found dead from an apparent drug overdose inside his Paisley Park home near Minneapolis.

A toxicology report revealed that the singer had overdosed on fentanyl, an extremely potent opioid. A subsequent police investigation indicated that Prince might not have known what was in the medication he took. A number of prescription pills in his home were mislabeled, and the singer had been in possession of pill bottles that bore someone else's name.

Heath Ledger

The Academy Award-nominated actor reportedly suffered from heroin addiction in the years leading up to his overdose.

Ledger's former girlfriend and mother of his child, Michelle Williams, forced him to attend rehab in 2007, but on January 22, 2008, Ledger's body was found by his masseuse in his apartment. The masseuse called Ledger's close friend Mary-Kate Olsen, who sent security guards to check on him before calling 911.

An autopsy revealed the presence of six drugs in his body, including oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, alprazolam and temazepam. The report ruled that he died from abuse of prescription medications. All of the drugs were taken below lethal doses, but the combination of the drugs was fatal, according to the medical examiner.

In a 2006 interview with film critic Cole Smithey about his role in the film Candy, Ledger had said: "I mean it's obviously not just celebrities in rehab, it's probably a similar statistic to people outside of the industry. But I do think that drugs and alcohol have been glorified and exoticized in such a way that it gets into the art world."

Philip Seymour Hoffman

Williams wasn't the only person who tried to help Ledger. His good friend and fellow actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, who mentored several people in recovery, had spent hours counseling Ledger. In a tragic turn of events, Hoffman died of an accidental overdose six years after Ledger.

On February 2, 2014, Hoffman's body was found in his apartment with a syringe in his arm. The actor, who lived blocks away from Ledger in New York City, died from poly-drug intoxication. A coroner found heroin, cocaine, benzodiazepines and an amphetamine in his body.

After 23 years of sobriety and countless hours working with recovering addicts, Hoffman relapsed and returned to rehab in 2013. During his life, he was nominated for four Academy Awards and won an Oscar for best actor for his role in "Capote."

Amy Winehouse

Famous for a song about refusing addiction treatment, singer Amy Winehouse died in 2011 after an alcohol overdose. The singer won five Grammys for her "Back to Black" album, led by the hit single "Rehab."

Winehouse had a history of mental illness. In her 2014 book "Loving Amy: A Mother's Story," Winehouse's mother wrote that her daughter was self-harming at age nine, shoplifting by ten, smoking at 12 and drinking liquor at age 15.

Despite rejecting initial intervention attempts, Winehouse attended rehab in the years before her death. However, she was never able to maintain sobriety or long-term recovery. After being congratulated for winning five Grammys, Winehouse reportedly told her friend: "Jules, this is so boring without drugs."

Whitney Houston

Dubbed the most awarded female artist of all time by Guinness World Records, Whitney Houston had earned two Emmy's, six Grammy's and 30 Billboard Music Awards by 2010. However, she died tragically on the night before the 2012 Grammy Awards.

Houston's body was discovered in the bathroom of the Beverly Hilton Hotel submerged in a bathtub. An autopsy reported that she died from drowning, atherosclerotic heart disease and cocaine use. Cocaine, marijuana, Xanax, Flexeril and Benadryl were found in her body, but the four latter drugs did not contribute to her death, according to the report.

Houston had revealed her history of drug use in interviews with Diane Sawyer in 2002 and Oprah Winfrey in 2009. She had attended outpatient rehab for alcohol and drug addiction in 2011.

Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe's death has long been shrouded by limited information and conspiracy theories. The body of the actress and pop culture icon was found by her psychiatrist in her bed around 3:30 a.m. on August 5, 1962.

Around 5:15 p.m. the day before, she had called the psychiatrist and told him she could not sleep. The coroner reported that her death was from an overdose of sleeping pills, more specifically barbiturate intoxication.

The death was also ruled a probable suicide. Accidental death was ruled out because the amount of drugs in her system was much higher than the lethal dosage. Monroe had suffered from frantic mood changes and severe depression in the years leading up to her death, and there was no indication of foul play.

Elvis Presley

The King of Rock and Roll was in poor health, bedridden, weighing about 350 pounds and requiring nursing care near the end of his life. Several sources have debated and scrutinized the details and ruling of his death. The coroner wrote that he died of natural causes on his death certificate.

Thus, Presley officially died from hypertensive cardiovascular disease with atherosclerotic heart disease, also known as a heart attack. However, a toxicology report revealed that he had 10 prescription medications his body when he died, including codeine at 10 times the therapeutic level.

Presley's body was found in the bathroom of his mansion at Graceland on August 16, 1977. An ambulance took him to Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was pronounced dead. During his life, he won three Grammy's and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. He is the best-selling solo artist of all-time.

Jimi Hendrix

Dubbed by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as one of the greatest instrumentalists in the history of rock, Hendrix had a well-known history of drug use. His exhaustion from regular drug abuse, pressures of stardom and fatigue from touring were noticeable in his last performances.

On September 18, 1970, Hendrix consumed nine sleeping pills prescribed to his girlfriend, Monika Dannemann's Vesparax. Dannemann awoke the next day to find Hendrix unresponsive and barely breathing. She called an ambulance, but Hendrix was announced dead less than two hours later at St. Mary Abbott's Hospital in London. The cause of death was ruled suffocation from inhaling vomit because of barbiturate intoxication.

Hendrix was one of the original members of the infamous 27 Club, coined after singers Brian Jones, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and Hendrix each died at the age of 27 between 1969 and 1971 from drug-related deaths.

Hendrix was nonchalant about his drug use in the years before his death. He once said: "I tell you, when I die I'm going to have a jam session. I want people to go wild and freak out. And knowing me, I'll probably get busted at my own funeral."

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Celebrities Who Survived Drug Overdoses

Drug overdoses aren't always fatal. Sometimes they are blessings in disguise, a wake-up call for individuals suffering from addiction. Several stars have experienced drug overdoses, and many say the experience helped them get their lives back on track.

Burt Reynolds

The award-winning actor suffered from Halcion addiction during the 1980s after he was prescribed the drug following a jaw injury in 1984. He was taking as many as 50 pills a day before he tried to quit cold turkey.

The withdrawal from Halcion was so severe that he was transported to a Los Angeles hospital where doctors told his wife to say her final goodbyes as Reynolds struggled to maintain consciousness. However, he regained consciousness after about seven hours and eventually recovered.

Later in life, Reynolds succumbed to an addiction to prescription painkillers after taking the drugs following back surgery. He entered rehab in 2009.

Nikki Sixx

The songwriter and bassist for Mötley Crüe was known for partying and using drugs throughout the band's height of success in the '80s and '90s.

"I threw myself headlong into music and that lifestyle," Sixx said in a 2014 interview. "I never really figured I'd get out of the other side. A few years later, when I got sober and was able to become a father and have a family, that was when some of the greatest lessons came."

Sixx overdosed on heroin in 1987 after a party. He was reportedly declared dead, and his heart had stopped for two minutes before paramedics revived him with two shots of adrenaline. The experience led members of the band to agree to stop using heroin, according to Sixx's memoir "The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star."

Sixx is sober today, and in 2014 he said, "I love it. I have a zest for life and I love the idea that I go home to my family and my wife and they understand me... I had a time, and what a time it was, but this surpasses it a thousand fold. I love stability, because what swirls around me is insanity."

Pink

The three-time Grammy award-winning singer overdosed on Thanksgiving Day in 1995 after using ecstasy, crystal meth and acid for years. The experience changed her life, and she claims she never used drugs again afterward.

"It wasn't to the point of going to the hospital, but I remember getting up off the floor in the morning - and that was the last time I ever touched a drug again," Pink said in a 2012 interview.

The actress played a recovering sex addict in the indie film "Thanks for Sharing." She said she took the role because she understood addiction and she believed it would help someone.

Eminem

Eminem has told his life story to the public through the lyrics of his songs, and he's never been shy about sharing the dirty details of the struggles he's faced.

"It's no secret I had a drug problem," he said in a 2009 interview. "If I was to give you a number of Vicodin I would actually take in a day? Anywhere between 10 to 20. Valium, Ambien, the numbers got so high I don't even know what I was taking."

After a doctor refused to prescribe him painkillers following a knee surgery, Eminem went home to find Vicodin that he'd hidden from himself years before. In 2007 he overdosed.

"They said if I would've gotten to the hospital two hours later, that would have been it," Eminem said in 2010. "Because my organs, my kidneys were failing, everything was shutting down."

The artist released albums titled "Relapse" and "Recovery" in 2009 and 2010, respectively. The latter was aimed at helping others struggling with life's difficulties. "I do feel like if I can help people who have been through a similar situation, then why not," he said in 2010.

Addiction has affected some of the greatest entertainers of all time. It's taken the lives of cultural icons and devastated fans across the world. However, some have overcome addiction and inspired others by proving that recovery is possible.

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Which Celebrities Have Battled with Addiction?

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In the months leading up to Prince's death, his friends and family were reportedly becoming increasingly concerned with Prince's prescription drug use. On a flight home from an Atlanta concert, the Academy Award-winning singer overdosed on Percocet that he was taking for hip problems. His flight made an emergency landing in Illinois, and medical personnel on the ground administered a shot of the opioid overdose reversal drug Narcan.

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Credit: Evdokimov Maxim/Shutterstock

Drug overdose deaths among U.S. teens edged upward in 2015, after declining for several years prior, according a new report.

The report, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), looked at drug overdose deaths among Americans ages 15 to 19 over a 16-year period, from 1999 to 2015.

The report showed that from 1999 to the mid-2000s drug overdose deaths in this age group more than doubled, from 1.6 deaths per 100,000 people in 1999 to 4.2 deaths per 100,000 people in 2007. This increase coincided with a rise in drug overdose deaths among the U.S. population as a whole, an increase that's been partly attributed to the opioid epidemic.

However, after 2007, drug overdose deaths among teens declined, reaching 3.1 deaths per 100,000 people in 2014, the report said. (This drop was driven by a decrease in drug overdose deaths among males in this age group.)

But in 2015, the most recent year for which data is available, drug overdose deaths among teens increased again, to 3.7 deaths per 100,000 people, which is a 19 percent increase compared to 2014, the report said. In total, there were 772 drug overdose deaths in this age group in 2015. [ America's Opioid-Use Epidemic: 5 Startling Facts]

This recent rise "certainly is a red flag," said Dr. Bradley Stein, a child and adolescent psychiatrist and senior physician policy researcher at the RAND Corporation, who was not involved in the report. However, Stein noted, because the overall number of drug overdose deaths among teens in this age group is relatively small, it's possible that the recent rise is just statistical "noise" rather than a true increase. In other words, more data will be needed to determine if this marks a new upward trend.

Still, "any uptick at all [in drug overdose deaths] is certainly something that has to get our attention," Stein said.

The majority of overdose deaths in this age group, 80 percent, were unintentional. However, the rate of suicides resulting from overdose was higher among females (22 percent) than males (13.5 percent), the study found.

The report analyzed the types of drugs involved in teen overdose deaths, finding that opioids had the highest death rate, followed by benzodiazepines (which are also known as "tranquilizers" and include drugs such as Valium and Xanax).

Stein noted that while people often focus on opioids as the biggest culprit in drug overdose deaths, it's often a combination of drugs that leads to overdose, and the mixture of opioids with benzodiazepines can be particularly deadly.

The study also found that there has been a spike in teen overdose deaths involving heroin and synthetic opioids (such as fentanyl) in recent years, while there has been a decrease in deaths involving semisynthetic opioids, which include prescription painkillers such as hydrocodone and oxycodone. This mirrors a trend seen in adults and suggests that while efforts to reduce prescribing of opioid painkillers may be working, they are "not a silver bullet" for solving the opioid crisis, Stein said.

Stein said it's unclear why teen drug overdose deaths decreased from 2007 to 2014 while overdose deaths increased in other age groups during this time. But Stein speculated that efforts to prevent opioid use or educate people about the risks of these drugs might have a bigger impact in teens and might prevent them from starting in the first place. More research is needed to understand which interventions work best for which demographic groups, he said.

Still, even with prevention efforts, teens may become addicted to opioids, and there is still a need to push for better opioid addiction treatments for this age group, Stein said.

The report is published today (Aug. 16) by the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics.

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Teen Drug Overdose Deaths Increased 19% in 2015

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Drug overdose deaths among U.S. teens edged upward in 2015, after declining for several years prior, according a new report. The report, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), looked at drug overdose deaths among Americans ages 15 to 19 over a 16-year period, from 1999 to 2015.

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It is well known that drugs in pop culture have a heavy influence in society. Today it is commonplace for drug and alcohol references and outright usage to occur in popular music, movies, and even literature. Children see drugs in pop culture references in cartoons and movies all the time even though they may not realize it. Kids have also been known to emulate the behavior using ordinary items such as candy and juice, sometimes leading to oral fixation tendencies that manifest later on in their lives as habitual smoking and drinking. Drugs in pop culture has a much more profound on our youth than people want to admit.

Influence on Teenagers

A lot of teenagers are stressed by school and their social lives; being introduced to drugs and alcohol, by either their peers or what they read and watch, can open the doorway for them try these unhealthy methods to alleviate that stress. Stress is not always the case however. Peer pressure can also play a big role in the development of teenage substance abuse. Peer pressure is constantly being reinforced by recurrences of drug and alcohol use in movies and television. Drugs in pop culture gives kids an "image" that is very appealing and cool. Society's standards of acceptance revolve around our cultural influences, and with popular artists referencing or using drugs it has become somewhat ordinary for teens to try them out. Some artists even use drug street names like Molly, Mary Jane or reefer in their music, inadvertently teaching about them. Certain television and movie characters even try to justify drug usage by stating that it enhances awareness, expands mental boundaries, or just make it look enjoyable or cool.

Entertainers and Substance Abuse

Drugs in pop culture transcends though all avenues of entertainment, including sports. The sports world has often been scrutinized for being a nexus of all sorts of drug usage. From performance enhancers to stress alleviating drugs, athletes throughout the ages have been accused and convicted in a number of drug cases. Even though sports is a big part of our society, they openly endorse alcohol and make it look enticing to people young and old and few individuals complain.

Society is constantly watching drugs in pop culture evolve; taking part in what is depicted as being "acceptable" whether it should be or not. Television shows like "Gossip Girl" and "Jersey Shore" show young adults drinking excessively while having fun. Often people believe that they need to drink to have a good time or to "fit in" and shows like that are not teaching the younger generation any better. The problem is society's acceptance of drug and alcohol use due to pop culture constantly making it seem glamorous. Shows like "Weeds" and "Breaking Bad" show their main characters getting into trouble for drug possession and use but getting out eventually and reaping the benefits. Although the characters often go too far, the shows construe the message that it is possible to get away with such activity and live well because of it.

With music artists singing about drugs and alcohol, and movies and television rarely showing the negative repercussions and accidents that can occur because of usage, it is unsurprising that our society increasingly has young smokers and drinkers who are not living the long full lives they deserve.

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Drugs in Pop Culture - What are the effects? | Sober Nation

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It is well known that drugs in pop culture have a heavy influence in society. Today it is commonplace for drug and alcohol references and outright usage to occur in popular music, movies, and even literature. Children see drugs in pop culture references in cartoons and movies all the time even though they may not realize it.