Yesterday afternoon, officials in Vancouver confirmed what many suspected, that Cory Monteith died of a drug overdose. I'm not sure how many people expected it to be heroin. I'm pretty sure most people expected it to be some kind of pill and that his death would be similar to so many other celebrities that have accidentally overdosed. Two separate lives for Cory Monteith. While in Los Angeles, he apparently was a very hard worker who was going to AA meetings and appeared to be sober. I say appeared because if you are hooked on heroin, then you need heroin. This is not something you just do once a month and that is all you need. Maybe in Los Angeles with work commitments and friends and responsibilities he was better at covering it up or not using as much, but he had to have been using. Police in Vancouver would not say if heroin was found in his hotel room, just that what they found was consistent with a drug overdose. So, yes they found drugs.
So sad. Never watched the show and had no idea who he was but it seems like such a waste of talent. RIP.
ReplyDeleteI assumed it was something like heroin, not pills actually. So so sad. That is a beautiful picture of them.
ReplyDeleteHave never let myself even try that one. It seems to take over everything and kill ya young. It's possible he was sober and then slipped while on vacation and in a party atmosphere. Very sad.
ReplyDeleteWhy are people NOT afraid of heroin anymore ? I'm 33 so somewhat close in age to him. When I was growing up, heroin was the drug you stayed away from. It was the "Not even once" drug. When did that change ?
ReplyDeleteSo sad.
I couldn't agree more.
DeleteThe problem today is that a lot of heroin users got started because they were on pain meds for completely legit reasons, became dependent, were subsequently cut off by their pain docs, and resorted to heroin because its cheap and easily accessible and staves off the opiate withdrawal from oxy, etc. its resulted in a whole new generation of users. Don't know the guy or the show and don't think this was his issue per se, but sad nonetheless. It's most definitely a never try one drug.
DeleteAJ - my thoughts exactly! It's just sad every single time.
DeleteITA- not something I would ever even think of as a casual , try it once thing. Same with meth. Both have deadly outcomes.
DeleteI think many many people have the same thought, "No, I'll never do THAT drug !" and "Not Me". Yet pills are a gateway to it seems.
DeleteI have Crohn's disease and I rely on pain medication almost everyday. I've always been terrified of heroin and have never touched it. Yet I can fully understand the slippery slope created by pain medication whether its used for physical or emotional pain.
Everyone says, "No, I'd never" but no one can predict the future. I think it's why deaths like River, Kurt, Heath and now Cory have hit me so hard. Pain is pain and everyone copes differently.
@AJ I think it is a matter of availability? I am 46 and as a teen in the 80's it was a bad word as well. But who had heroin in Fresno?
ReplyDelete@Jenny. Probably lots of people. Just none of the ones we knew.
DeleteHanford, Class of '84. *g*
I'm sure it was there.
DeleteMy mom hired a lot of teens back in the mid 80s to around 2000ish for PT holiday jobs in Shopping Malls for Santa & the Easter Bunny. So I was around A LOT of times and remember being shocked that her most trusted employee was a heroin addict. He would be good for awhile & than disappear. I always wonder what happened to him.
I'm from NJ and it shocks me how bad a heroin problem there is in the High Schools now and that it is even more so of a problem in the affluent towns.
@AJ I'm from NJ as well and heroin seems to be the drug of choice lately. It's rampant in my hometown.
Delete@AJ Cory became addicted to drugs as a young teen when he was having emotional problems. He's talked about how he was lucky to be alive.
ReplyDeleteYou know, I actually just saw that. Poor kid. It sounds like he really did want to get over his demons. I truly hope he finds some sort of peace in the great beyond.
DeleteSo so sad. That is a beautiful picture.
ReplyDeleteI grew up in the crazy 60s and was exposed to too many deaths from heroin to even be interested - Jimi, Janis, and a son of my parent's friend.So even then it was a no no drug - no one I knew touched it..
@Gayeld. SJM class of '84.
ReplyDeleteCheers!
I thought toxicology results take longer than a few days. It was well over a month for Whitney Houston.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Canada has a better system.
DeleteIt's just sad all around.
ReplyDeleteAs someone who has an incurable disease that causes crohnic stomach pain, I do understand the fine line you walk when pain medication is involved. I've alway sympathized with Kurt Cobain because I've read that part of his drug problem was to deal with his stomach pain. Who's to say it was or wasn't but it IS something that I can understand. Having constant pain will change you, whether it is physical or emotional.
RIP Cory. May you have found some peace from your demons.
His poor family. I have two sons. I can't imagine what they are going through.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful picture
ReplyDeleteOther than tox reports, the rest is speculation. Enty's suggestion that he lived a 'double life' because he was attempting to get clean is, in my opinion, more of ignorance than it is offensive. It's far more likely he truly was trying to live clean and perhaps had, and relapsed using the higher Amounts of the drug he was used to when using on the regular. As a recovering addict myself, I've seen far too many lose their life after promising attempts to get clean, misjudging their new and lower tolerance levels, and OD'ing after spending some time clean. Tragic,
ReplyDeleteWhat a gorgeous picture of the two of them!
ReplyDeletePip the Vancouver police department put a rush on the results in order to avoid prolonged speculation about why he died
ReplyDeleteit may seems like jumping the queue but most families don't have to endure public speculation about their loved one's death and Cory is from BC.
Data lounge spilled that he was on heroin a long time ago, so i am not surprised, also that he had a fling with that kyle xy guy
ReplyDeleteHeroin's not as scary anymore because you don't have to shoot it, it's purer so a lot of people just snort it. I have firsthand experience with this (3+ years clean, thank god and Suboxone). When I wasn't able to get/use heroin I'd go with OxyContin or Vicodin when desperate, methadone when really desperate. Also, if I was unfamiliar with the source, I'd prefer Oxy because I'd be sure what I was getting. But as an addict, anything would do.
ReplyDeleteI suspect while Cory was in Canada he may have been unfamiliar with the source, therefore unfamiliar with the strength/quality of his drugs. And if he was truly addicted to an opiate like heroin, there is no way he could have continued working in LA without SOMETHING to control the withdrawals (Suboxone, Methodone, etc.). He'd be visibly sick.
I figured it was heroin or some type of opiates in pill form. That seems to be the standard of od'ing. And yes there have been many articles in our local paper how kids start off on Vicodin then move on to Oxy, fentanyl patches, then can't afford or get it anymore so start on heroin. We have had a big surge in kids from mid to upper class families getting arrested for burglary or other crimes to support their addiction. Also, a lot of babies being born with heroin addictions. I live in total suburbia too.
ReplyDeleteThis is just so, so awful. I swear, in like every photo of them together Lea is looking at him with so much love in her eyes, it's heart wrenching.
ReplyDeleteIs anyone else surprised that Lea Michelle would be with a heroin addict though? She had to have known. (I'm not saying that to blame her in any way at ALL.) She just doesn't strike me as a person who would put up with the mess that comes with dating someone with a serious drug habit. (I've been there. It's a mess.)
That picture is amazing. Lea may be a diva but that picture clearly shows how much she loved him. Sad.
ReplyDeleteThis is the 4th death from heroin I've heard about in less than a year. I would have been surprised had heroin not been in Cory's system. Tragic.
ReplyDeleteThe Westboro Baptist "Church" announced that they planned to boycott Cory's funeral. They tweeted that Monteith was a "fag enabler" for his role as a friend of Chris Colfer's gay character, Kurt, and announced the actor had been struck down by a "mad raging god".
ReplyDeleteWTF is wrong with those people???
Faith - Sometimes you don't discover the addictions until you're head over heels and at that point, what do you do? Try to help them and love them as they are or walk away?If we want someone to love us, flaws and all, we can't deny them that, too.
ReplyDeleteI feel just awful for his family and for Lea. While her type A tendencies can make her seem unbearable, tragic heartbreak is an equalizer. I'm sure she and anyone else that knew of his struggles tried very hard to help him. I hope she and everyone else around him knows that it wasn't a failure on their part. They couldn't save him, it was up to him to save himself but he made the poor choice to ingest heroin that night.
I feel terrible for family and friends and Lea. I like the pic enty used. I guess you just never know someone as well as you think you do. rip.
ReplyDeleteChoose life!
ReplyDeleteAs a note, most old drug users seem to use coke. I don't think there are any old heroin users due to ODs. The problem with heroin apparently is that you can manage it until that last hit, at which point it manages you.
Discussing this with a young coworker (we work with teens in foster care; she used to work in a rehab clinic), she stated that she had always stayed away from heroin because she was frightened of constipation. She added, "I know it sounds dumb, but seriously. The kids at the clinic had the worst experiences with being plugged up and then having life-threatening diarrhea."
ReplyDeleteThey actually reported they didn't find drugs.
ReplyDeleteBut, that doesn't mean they didn't find other supplies and things related to the drugs.
Very sad. And disappointing.
so sad and had everything going for him as far as anyone knew.
ReplyDeletewhat a waste of a good life
@MannyV
ReplyDeleteYes !!! Choose life !!! I just said to my friend yesterday, have these kids not seen Trainspotting ? I've always been terrified of heroin. There are no "good" endings with that drug it seems.
I was also surprised to think that Lea would put up with a heroin addict. But I've never known a hard drug addict myself so I just go on what I've seen on TV. ;)
ReplyDeleteIt seems like such a deadly drug, that it makes me wonder if the persistent rumors about AJ are true. Maybe she just uses the bare minimum to avoid withdrawal symptoms?
ReplyDeleteFor the briefest of seconds I thought you meant me AJ not THE AJ !!! LOL
DeleteBut yeah I've always wondered about that as well. I sadly suspect that this sort of drug problem is way more rampant than we think in Hollywood.
@Tammy, I've heard rumors she essentially uses Fentanyl-like version that is administered by a medical professional. Think Michael Jackson, but with an obviously better doctor.
ReplyDeleteShe looks so in love in that picture.
ReplyDelete:(
What a stunning picture.
ReplyDeleteThe brain is tricky and sensitive organ. We ingest things without knowing or realizing the delicate balance within. Then bam the addiction has you, and will win in many cases. Don't mess with your neurology. Starting at 13, he didn't stand a chance. Just took 15 plus years to get him.
@Tammy, your body requires more and more heroin to get the same high, so I don't think the bare minimum is possible, really (but maybe anyone with experience of it could answer that?). It's also physically addictive, so withdrawal is horrible.
ReplyDeleteCory had just been to rehab, possibly he started again that night and miscalculated the dose he could safely take (which would be lower if he hadn't used in a while).
@KPeony I know exactly what you mean.
ReplyDeleteI've just relocated to Ocean county and it seems like its even more out of hand here than it was in Monmouth County where I grew up.
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ReplyDeleteThat picture just makes me want to weep. Maybe just my imagination but I thought she seemed a lot more chilled the last year or so and perhaps it was being with him. There seemed to be a dearth of the diva rumours that used to plague her. if love was enough....
ReplyDeleteI just hope that some people will learn from this. I have already spoken to my children on the back of this.
I live in Jersey. I'm in northern Ocean County. There have been a ton of petty robberies and break ins by kids looking for $ for their next hit of heroin.
ReplyDelete@Lioness Yes !!! I've seen a few articles about the robberies. When we lived in Wall, someone stole my wallet from my unlocked car while it was parked in the driveway.
DeleteWe now live next to LBI and someone stole my neighbors bike from his driveway while he was inside. Crazy part was, neighbor had the front door open with just the screen door.
Kids are desperate these days.
I'm in Jackson, which is as white bread as towns get, but we've had the same things go on. Kids slipped in through unlocked back doors or took money from unlocked cars. All the people the police caught had raging heroin habits.
DeleteI grew up the next town over in Howell !!! We live in Manahawkin now and I'm not surprised. After dealing with robberies in Wall, we just try not to keep anything valuable in the cars and lock our doors when we leave. Growing up in the 80s & 90s I don't really ever remember my parents locking anything.
DeleteI think Lea was in love with the character Cory played on Glee. This happens in a lot of on-set romances that become off-set. She may not have known the "real" drug addict Cory and all the drugs he took. I'm sure their romance would have ended once the show ended. That's pretty much what happens with most on-set romances. Once the show ends they have to face the real person and not the character, and that's when reality hits.
ReplyDeleteI'm from Vancouver and I have to wonder if the guy accidentally picked up heroin instead of something else, like coke. There is a lot of noise that certain places in town will sell you the wrong shit.
ReplyDeleteAlso, it is really weird that they rushed the toxicology. There are some questions over how accurate the results are. Most toxicology tests take at least four weeks.
ALSO ALSO... I know a bunch of people who knew him growing up in Victoria. Dude was a freak for the ages.
V, that does make sense, thanks!
ReplyDeleteIs anyone really surprised that heroin is rampant in NJ? That place is a miserable shithole and I can't imagine money making it any more bearable. Only hard drugs at high doses could work that magic. But that being said, there is no better feeling in the world than being high as hell on opiates. Sooo...RIP.
ReplyDeleteIt's always fun when everyone dumps on NJ. Does everyone think its just turnpikes and guidos ? I never understand that line of thinking. Its not just Jersey Shore & the Sopranos people. UG.
DeleteThere's a lot of Jersey Housewife types around, but lots of people are everyday folks. The further south one goes, you're heading into Duck Dynasty territory. (I love that show.) Trust me, I've been to a few auction places about an hour south from me.
DeleteThe Westboro Baptist people are so over the top with their announcements I'm starting to suspect they are a troupe of performance artists pulling a fast one on the public. Who thinks like that? It has to be a satire on garden variety homophobia.
ReplyDeleteWell if Datalounge is reporting it, then it must be true. Never mind that any thread there will contain completely conflicting info from reliable inside sources on any given topic.
ReplyDeleteThe Westboro Church members are nuts.
ReplyDeleteThey love to protest at funerals, especially soldiers that have died in combat, and even women who have died of breast cancer, because it's God's plan to punish homosexuals.
They're actually not affiliated with any religion. I hear alot about them because I don't live that far from Topeka.
RIP Cory.
No chance for Westboro to participate. His mother has already had a private viewing and had him cremated.
ReplyDeleteLea was included but his father was not.
As a recovered druggy, I want to scoff at Miranda's theory of the wrong drug ... then I remember that Jim Morrison died because he snorted up a ton of smack he thought was coke. Still, I have more faith in the dealers doing high-end dealing in Vancouver. I never knew them to make a mistake.
ReplyDeletePolice not finding drugs means he probably did some he just copped, and it was too much for his system, since he had been in rehab. He was photographed drinking beer on that trip, he probably got drunk, started craving heroin, copped some and did it. Sad. And you don't have to look like some desperate horrible person to love an addict. Believe me.
ReplyDelete