Griselda Blanco, 69, was also known in Colombia as the “Queen of Cocaine.” Blanco was killed by two gunshot wounds at close range.

According to CNN, “Witnesses heard the roar of a motorcycle and two gunshots Monday afternoon, Medellin police spokesman Diego Chavarria said. By the time authorities arrived at the scene in Belen, a residential neighborhood in Medellin, they found Blanco lying on the ground in a pool of blood.

“Blanco, also known as ‘the godmother’ and ‘mafia’s mother,’ gained notoriety in the 1970s and ’80s when, authorities say, she was responsible for shipping multi-ton shipments of cocaine from Colombia to Miami. She was also the mastermind, investigators say, of countless murders. She was also linked to drug lord Pablo Escobar.”

Florida authorities estimate Blanco was involved in at least 40 murders in Miami, Queens and Broward County.

This website and blog focuses primarily on drug and alcohol addiction and rehab as a means to recover from these addictions. I would like to take a short break from this focus to point out that there are other kinds of addictions worth noting. Yes, I’m sure you’ve heard about eating disorders and gambling addictions which can have severe consequences.

But, there are a couple of news items this week regarding other addictions that I think that we as a society need to take note of and take action to resolve. The first news article that caught my eye this week was how frequent tanning bed users may be addicted since the UV rays stimulate the same “reward” parts of the brain as other addictions.

The New York Times did a good job in laying out how a recent study tracked results. According to the Times, “The frequent tanners agreed to be injected with a radioisotope that allowed researchers to monitor how tanning affected their brain activity … Brain images later showed that during regular tanning sessions, when the study subjects were exposed to UV rays, several key areas of the brain lighted up. Among those areas were the dorsal striatum, the left anterior insula and part of the orbitofrontal cortex – all areas that have been implicated in addiction. But when the UV light was filtered out, those areas of the brain showed far less activity.”

Now, on the West Coast, the Los Angeles Times has come out with a story about the sign of the times that states that some people are so addicted to technology, they would rather give up caffeine, chocolate or even alcohol rather than their cell phones.

I find this alarming since in 2009, around 448,000 people in the U. S. were injured because of distracted driving (talking or texting) using cell phones. In the same year, two times as many people were killed on the road because of alcohol impairment than distracted driving. But, just 5 years before this alcohol-related deaths beat cell phone deaths 10 to 1.

So, yes, drugs and alcohol can create significant addictions with dire consequences. We also need to be mindful of other addictions that can also cause great harm to self and others, especially if we decide as a society to take no action.

A lot of people like to see celebrities trip and fall. Some take pleasure out of jealously while others feel more connected to the celebrity as a human being rather than a persona. I’m not mentioning Dr. Drew’s Celebrity Rehab to promote the TV show. I’m mentioning it because it shows some of the human frailties that bind us all and make us all vulnerable to addiction.

One of the celebrities on the show, Dennis Rodman is the poster boy for denial. He was voted off Donald Trump’s The Apprentice TV Show after being confronted by TV star Jesse James, about Rodman’s problem with alcohol addiction. Rodman denied the problem.

On the first episode of Celebrity Rehab, Rodman said he was sent there because of court order and that he didn’t have an addiction problem. According to TMZ, on the same day as the premiere of Celebrity Rehab, Rodman was tossed out of an Orange County, CA restaurant for bad behavior after drinking vodka.

Ex Hollywood Madam Heidi Fleiss was ostracized by friends and family after her conviction and prison sentence. She now lives in the desert with only a bunch of parrots to keep her company. She uses drugs to keep the deep loneliness at bay.

And then there is child TV star turned adult Mackenzie Phillips who has recently revealed an adult incestual relationship with her father that started in childhood. Sexual abuse at any time in one’s life makes a person vulnerable to drug or alcohol abuse.

There is a page on the main website about famous addicts that was put up not to shame celebrities but to give hope to the non celebrities. Addiction crosses all races, socio-economic classes and affects all people everywhere. It can also make one feel very isolated and lonely.

Knowing that celebrities struggle with addiction like everyone else can help a little with this loneliness. And finding a peer group struggling with the same issues as oneself is also helpful in overcoming and managing one’s addictions.

Basic meth recipes are making it easier for addicts to continue their habits. This news comes from the Polk County Sheriff’s office in Florida. According to the report, even after the laws were tightened in 2006, putting some of the basic ingredients behind the counter, those who have a will for the drug still have a way.

According to the Sheriff’s office, those who want to use basic meth recipes can buy their supplies from Wal-Mart and Walgreens. The amounts are smaller than could be made pre-2006, but this do-it-yourself approach has many concerned.

Besides the addiction aspect of cooking the basic recipes for meth, the process itself can be quite explosive. Another aspect that is alarming is that in this Florida county more meth labs have been busted this year than any other year, albeit the labs are smaller.

This just goes to show how addictive methamphetamines can be. These addicts will go to any length possible to keep their habits going, risking their health by ingesting caustic chemicals and setting themselves up for explosions and fire, using the smallest amounts possible that they can get their hands upon.

Well, this blog post is a departure from many of the others that I’ve post over the past months, in that it talks about a song from Pink called “Sober”. All I knew about the song at first is that it had a rousing melody and was sung from the heart. Then I started listening to the lyrics. And from there I had to look up the lyrics online and watch the video on Youtube.

The Sober song is a meaningful anthem for anyone trying to kick addiction in the teeth. The lyrics cut to the core of why many people choose to get high and how they try to feel as good when they are sober. The video shows the struggle with self and how addiction can be consuming, yet can also be overcome. For drug and alcohol educators this song may be one that can be used to connect with an audience young and old.