They tried to make me go to rehab...

I said "no, no. no"

So no prizes for guessing what this blog post is about.

When the news broke that Amy Winehouse had died, my first thought was that I wasn't surprised.  And therein lies the tragedy of it all - to not be surprised that a 27 year old has died is a dreadful thing.  And it was a tragedy, for all the comments of "well she was offered the help and wouldn't take it" or "she was just a junkie, it was all self-inflicted" it cannot be denied that for anyone to lose their life at 27 years of age is a tragedy.  And for such a person - young, beautiful and undoubtedly talented, the tragedy is heightened.  It isn't ironic that she sang about it!

And before the reasons for her death have even come out there are the assumptions....drink and drugs, drink and drugs...it's an overdose etc etc etc.  Making the assumption from the well-documented problems of Amy's turbulent life.

I find myself wanting to shout addiction IS an illness.  It really isn't as easy as "oh right, let's just stop then" - it is a complex and heartbreaking condition that can reduce a fully functioning human being to a shell.  

But, Any Winehouse isn't the only person having gone through addiction.  Countless people lose their lives every day through conditions related to alcohol or drug abuse.  Perhaps if anything positive is going to come out of the death of such a talented person as Amy Winehouse it can be to raise awareness, to highlight the plight of thousands of young people who are in the same positions.  To maybe highlight to younger people that getting involved in drugs isn't cool and it is a life-changing thing.

So tonight as the world of music is still coming to terms with the loss of another artist desperately young, a family is trying to work out just how there is a huge hole in their lives there are people finding the best way to make a quick joke, the best way to get something really funny going viral on twitter.

But it isn't funny.  And the best thing we could get going viral on twitter right now would be directions to sites where people suffering from addiciton can help.  So, in the interests of getting something positive out of a senseless waste: -

Alcoholics Anonymous

Drug Addicts Anonymous