When police discovered the body of Phillip Seymour Hoffman they claimed there were ten bags of heroin with two of them used. They have since revised that report and now say there were 70 bags of heroin found in the apartment of the deceased actor along with 20 hypodermic needles and five prescription drugs including a prescription to treat people trying to overcome addiction to heroin. Of the 70 bags found that contained heroin, approximately 20 had been used. When someone buys 70 bags at once that can't be a good thing but police say that the bottle containing the addiction withdrawal drug was half empty indicating that Hoffman was at least making an effort to try and kick the drug. When the toxicology reports are finally released it will be interesting to see if he was actively taking the medication or had given up. Over the past few weeks Hoffman didn't want to give interviews and when he was cornered at Sundance and pressed to say a few words they were all somber and full of dire predictions for his future. He had so much going on in his life work wise that I wonder if he thought he was never going to be able to get clean. It is so tough to stop and go to rehab and admit that you still have a problem because then you are letting the world know you failed the first time. He should have just said, "F**k it, I'm going," and who cares about all the work projects. The lives of his three kids should have been first on his list and he could worry about salvaging his career after he got clean.
I hate these posts. The posts after the death, but before any official reports. Don't speculate. Give him some respect. Fuck.
ReplyDeleteHindsight being 20/20 I agree with @Marieee
ReplyDeleteI remember a friend of mine from teenage years' brother died of OD combination heroin + the heroin prescription drug they give to addicts trying to become clean.. I wonder if that has something to do with it
he went to rehab and left after 10 dys. In any case addiction is a bitch affecting the way you think and rationalize and really isn't curable.
ReplyDeleteIt's really weird how this happened around the anniversary of Heath Ledger's death.
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine what Mimi is going through right now knowing that she thought the tough love approach of kicking him out would help and not hurt :(
ReplyDeleteI have to agree that he had many resources available, such as in-patient rehab, that many couldn't afford.
ReplyDeleteYou don t buy 20 packs of cigarettes when you want to quit. he was obviously thinking about it but heroin is crap man. never tried drugs in my life but my severe fag addiction in the past proves my point on addiction. it s hell to kick out a softer one. imagine heroin. the bitcth of the bitches
ReplyDeleteActually Laura, I've heard that nicotine is every bit as addictive and tough to quit as heroin. You quit cigs, which was every bit the bitch for you that PSH was going through with heroin. I quit cigs too. Single best thing I've ever done for myself in my life.
DeleteAttempting to quit smoking has single handedly been the most difficult thing I've ever tried in my life. I can't imagine what it would be like if I were to try harder drugs, which is one reason why I won't ever go down that road. Addiction to anything is a huge struggle for anyone. Sure, we all wanna quit whatever it is we are addicted to. But damn, if the road to get there isn't complete and total hell.
DeleteI wouldn't pretend to know anything about addiction and even if I did what is the point of speculating anything? The guy is dead and no amount of speculation will change that and how sad it is. What I will say is that making trite statements effectively saying he put drugs ahead of his kids is completely minimalising how addiction screws with a person - like it was even a choice for him.
ReplyDeleteI have a person down here who kicked her best friend out of her life because she was using and as an ex-addict herself with a kid didn't want that around--especially around her child. Anyhow the user wound up getting murdered by her junkie b/f dealer. And it's killing that person now that she "abandoned" her friend.
ReplyDeleteYour friend should be proud she was able to save herself and her kid. That takes personal strength and commitment.
DeleteCheck out the sad picture of him in this article: Hoffman’s haunting confession: ‘I’m a heroin addict’
ReplyDeleteTalk about haunting... :(
How many times are you going to drag this guys body out for clicks?
ReplyDeleteShame on you
Wow. One of you said something I actually agree with!
DeleteYeah I was thinking about this earlier, he's so in demand that he couldn't see any opportunity in the near future to go to rehab. Not making the time cost him his life. So sad.
ReplyDeletewell, addicts don't really think rationally and addiction is a very selfish disease. knowing you have a problem and DOING something about it are 2 very different things.
ReplyDeletei can't judge this poor guy. he was obviously deep into addiction and it ended horribly, as it often does.
all the 'he should haves' aren't helpful. he didn't. end of story.
fortunately i do not have very many addictions... my thoughts and encouragement to those who do. i understand it takes over your life and mind and there is no coming back.
ReplyDeleteI'm starting to feel a bit ick about the whole thing, as more private information is revealed. Information such as the position of his body, the amount of drugs found, the needles, etc.
ReplyDeleteAll I can think of his family (both his parents are alive, his partner and kids, his siblings), and how this must be affecting them.
Ya but quitting cigarettes don't throw your body into horrifying, painful withdrawal convulsions the way heroin does, @Harry
ReplyDeleteI don't know. Maybe this is just me personally but when I tried to quit awhile back, they withdrawal symptoms were insane. Constantly chills which lead into sweats, stomach cramps, headaches, basically living in the bathroom as I cldnt keep anything down or inside my body, severe mood swings...I'm not belittling a stronger drug addiction at all. I'm just saying the withdrawal symptoms for anything differ from person to person. I wld have never imagined I wld have went thru that just from cigs.
Deleteaemish, you're right of course. Heroin withdrawal is far more severe than nicotine withdrawal. It's just that the craving for nicotine is every bit as strong as it is for heroin. And much easier to get - just mosey on over to the store because you can always quit tomorrow.
DeleteI'm just sayin', for me it was eating. I went from 160 lbs to 215 lbs in 2 months. I would buy a bag of Doritos Cool Ranch and a 750 ml bottle of Coke and polish it all off in an hour or so and then go back to the store and buy a bag of Smarties and a tube of Pringles and another 750 ml bottle of Coke and polish all of that off in an hour or so too. I would hit the Mickey D 2 or 3 times a day. I would go into the Krispy Kreme and get a dozen Honey Dipped and gobble them down like my life depended on it.Had to buy new clothes, even underwear I was so fucking fat. My knees were killing me from all the extra weight. Got into bicycling in a pretty serious way which allowes me to burn a lot of calories without putting further strain on my poor beleaguered knees and low and behold the lbs and inches starting coming back off and once again I am back to what I was in the 1st place: God's Gift to Women.
I don't find this disrespectful at all. A lot of people who enjoyed him as an actor want to know about his struggle with the addiction that took his life. The details make me very sad for him...addiction is a nasty horrible thing and has taken a lot of lives. RIP PSH.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you @Valerie. It's news that was released and he talked about it.
DeleteWoulda coulda shoulda. Its no one's fault but the addiction. Unless youre shooting up victim in their sleep its notyour fault.
ReplyDeleteAnd 70 bags does not sound like kicking.
DeleteHeroin is a very difficult drug to get clean from. Unfortunately I've known a few heroin addicts in my time. It's a very popular drug where I live and once it gets its claws in you it is very, very difficult to completely shake it. I see people get clean and relapse, get clean and relapse, repeatedly. Just because PSH had medication to help with opiate addiction doesn't necessarily mean he was trying to get clean though. Many addicts will use that in a pinch when they can't get heroin for whatever reason, to at least hold withdrawal at bay. If he was flying or traveling and couldn't use heroin for whatever reason, having that on hand to take would get him through until his next fix. I don't believe anyone with 70 bags of heroin was trying to get clean. It's tragic and sad, but heroin is a drug that takes over your life until it kills you. The rate of relapse is very high and it takes a combination of dedication, luck, support, and treatment to kick it completely.
ReplyDeleteThis makes me so angry…
ReplyDeleteThe problem with addiction is, the drug comes first before everything else--kids, job, food, etc.
ReplyDeleteRight or wrong, this is considered news. If you think it is wrong and want to make a statement, the best way to do that is not to click and not to read the post. Clicking and complaining doesn't seem to work, but if the clicks drop off, that would hit home.
ReplyDeleteSince you can't really travel with heroin, I wonder if he got the withdrawal rx to hold him over while he was working.
ReplyDeleteI was absolutely blown away with his portrayal of Truman Capote. Ive adored him every since Along Came Polly. Having said that...
ReplyDeleteWe all know what drugs do. People pretty much know what road they are gonna end up on. He didnt care. A junkie ODing isn't a tragedy or surprising really. It is senseless though.
sorry if I'm offending any addicts. That is my opinion.
A lot of addicts keep naltrexone with them in case they, or a buddy shooting up with them, takes too much because it immediately pulls the opiate off the receptors and keeps you from ODing. The fact that its liquid, I stead of a pill version -- which most recovering addicts would take -- speaks to me that it was there purely for ODing purposes.
ReplyDeleteThought he was a great actor
ReplyDeleteDon't understand why everyone gives celebrities a pass though on addiction.......
Would you think the same if he was a street person? Or would you just be calling the street person a junkie?
Same disease, same consequences.
I still believe in personal responsibility.
Someone very dear to me entered rehab for heroin last week. The loss of PSH is tragic, and terrifying.
ReplyDeleteI am of the belief that addiction is an illness. If I sat down with my close friend, and told her she could shoot this drug, but she would probably lose her husband, her children, her career, and ultimately her life, she wouldn't CHOOSE to do it...but the compulsion gets you in the end.
Addiction sucks.
How did PSH get a pass for his addiction? He paid with his life. Do you mean get a pass from ninnies passing judgement on somebody they don't know before his body is cold in the ground? We all need a pass from judgemental strangers.
ReplyDeletewell I don't feel the Hollywood celebs who are addicted are seen the same way as so called" junkie addicts".......the sympathy level is much different in general...perhaps that is enabling to them
ReplyDeleteeveryone is judged by their actions.......stranger or friend---that is the meaning of personal responsibility
you're fooling yourself if you think differently
my family is no stranger to addiction.....seen several crash and burn even my own father...so don't lecture me on judgment passing
I don't think anyone is giving PSH a pass for being an addict, I just think that many people have personal direct or indirect experience with such things so they aren't so quick to see things as black or white.
ReplyDeleteI have an addict in my family I cut off because he's been functional (to him) for years. Those around him enable his disease. I hate him for many reasons but least of which is his disease.
I am saddened to think one mistaken can set you on an irreversible path- for some, years can pass and then boom! A slip up that spirals downward..but my sympathy is largely reserved for his family, partner and young children. They are the ones that have to live with the ugly aftermath.
I hope we can all be judged so quickly after our deaths.
ReplyDeleteEveryone needs get off their high horse about drugs and addiction. Unless you've lived through it or walked in someone else's shoes you will never understand their need or compulsion to do what they did. All I can think about is the sadness, loneliness and self contempt he must have felt leading up to his death.
What's even more tragic is that it's always those that have tried to quit or want to quit that accidentally OD. Hollywood is full of talentless wastoids that have and will continue to use and waste their life away while those that try cut their lives way too short.
It's heartbreaking because he was literally at the pinnacle of his career. Him and Heath Ledger, you, as a fan, just KNEW what they were capable of and the power of their work that you will no longer be able to see.
How long is the wait time before the PSH reveals start flying?
ReplyDeleteIt's a shame he's gone. I am a suspicious person though and 70 bags? Phil knew something on someone. Seems too cut n dry for my liking. Yes he was an addict but I still think cover up (don't jump down my throat guys just mho!)
ReplyDeleteIf the blinds/rumors about Angelina are true how long before its her?
ReplyDelete@ Sandybrook
ReplyDeleteI hope your friend knows that she likely saved her child (and herself) by shutting that woman out.
For the cigarette smokers, up until crack cocaine, nicotine was the most addictive substance known to man. Unfortunately we made it and alcohol legal.
ReplyDeleteHindsight is 20/20. We all have done or will do something that could cause serious damage. Whether it’s driving too fast, running down a slick sidewalk after a heavy rain, stuck by a friend or family member when good sense tells you otherwise, we’ve all made unwise decisions. It’s called life. It happens, and sometimes, we make bad choices. It’s easy to say don’t do this, don’t do that. But it’s hard to look at ourselves and each other and really figure out what can be done to help one another.
ReplyDeleteMaybe if we worked harder on stopping each other from going down bad roads from the beginning, we wouldn’t have to ask so many what ifs.
It’s like the old PSA: no one ever says I WANT TO BE A JUNKIE WHEN I GROW UP. PSH didn’t want for himself. No addict does. I don’t like my bad habits, no more than anyone here likes theirs.
I’m not suggesting that we stuck by some if they’re being self-destructive. There’s only so much you can do before something like that consumes you. But we can walk away and hope for the best without being judgmental. The person is already being cruel to themselves. We don’t have to douse that fire with gasoline.
Life is hard, and pointing out another’s failures doesn’t make it easier. Love, reflect, learn, and try to do better. It’s what we owe ourselves and those we love. And most importantly, it’s all we have. So try not to waste it with would-have scenarios that will never be. Move forward as best we know how.
I cannot show respect.
ReplyDeleteHe was a wealthy and smart man, he knew that he could have changed the downward spiral, slowly, painfully,if he wanted enough. if he wasn1t so selfish.
He was responsible for the well-being/happiness/completeness of his children.
He just did not care enough to put the kids first.
Unfortunately that's not the way addiction works. What does being wealthy and smart have to do with being physically addicted to something? Only poor and dumb people are addicts? SMH. Really compassionate.
DeleteThe Daily Mail article today made me very sad. I wish all the addiction for profit would stop.
ReplyDeleteIf I had to guess at what his mind set was it would be that signing on for a lot of projects was important to him. If you always have somewhere to be tomorrow, then you'll limit how much you do the night before. If you're working on a big movie then people keep track of you and make you show up. Then, there's the whole mind set in Hollywood that you're no one if you don't have at least 3 movies filming or in announced.
ReplyDeleteIt was his way of not having to go to rehab, also. Too many important commitments.
Addicts that have money can afford to hoard their drugs, I guess. My brother died of an overdose or maybe just bad drugs a year ago. I think he thought he was in control of it, and that he was too smart to die.
In his mind, maybe PSH thought he actually everything under control.
He was taking suboxone which he probably only used when he wasn't at liberty to shoot up. Does 70 bags of dope sound like someone trying to kick?
ReplyDeleteHe did kick his addiction for 22 years. That takes a strong will. The thing with addiction is it's always there, waiting.
ReplyDeleteIt would be weird if it turned out that it was the prescription drugs and not the heroin that killed him. :(
In scanning up through the comments, I see that some people have no fucking clue what addiction entails. I hope you never find out. Please, go on being fucking clueless.
ReplyDeleteSo much talk about addiction. The point is this: he made the choice to use heroin initially.
ReplyDeleteAn intelligent person like PSH (whom I adored as an actor, and as a person from everything else I've heard about him) knows heroin's reputation. Even if he was young in his initial use.
That's why I don't have a lot of sympathy for hard drug addicts: no one stuck a needle in their arm. They made that initial choice.
Good luck to your person, Cornbread. I have fought an opiate addiction on and off for the last 15 yrs. I have sympathy and disgust for this stuff, to be honest. Its just awful.
ReplyDeleteI've never had to kick heroin because I never tried heroin. No matter what you want to say about lack of control once you're addicted, no one doesn't know that drugs are bad for you. If you don't try it, you won't have to quit it. I'm his age and I'm alive and well and around for my kid.
ReplyDeleteHe might have been attempting suciside if he injected it slowly he would be like "this is intense" and plodded back.
ReplyDeleteHaving used drugs for as long as he did kinfd of like he would have known better to just wack it quickly.
Many people commenting about heroin vs cigarettes or eating addictions have no clue.