Addict Nation: Jane Velez-Mitchell's Intervention for America
Feb. 1 2011, Published 12:45 p.m. ET
Jane Velez-Mitchell tackles the country's newest battle with the bottle -- in the form of prescription pill addiction -- and other vices rapidly eating away at the American infrastructure in her new book, Addict Nation - An Intervention for America and RadarOnline.com has all the details for you.
"In the United States, almost everything that's being presented to us as a 'free choice' is being designed, sold and packaged to us as a way to get us hooked, to ensure that we keep coming back for more -- even when it's destroying us," the New York Times best-selling author, who is a recovering alcoholic herself, told RadarOnline.com.
"Prescription pill addiction is epidemic -- you could call it a social contagion.”
Addict Nation - An Intervention for America examines a growing pill epidemic -- which Velez-Mitchell said is largely ignored -- that's been foreshadowed by a string of high-profile celebrity deaths (Anna Nicole Smith in 2007, Health Ledger in 2008, Michael Jackson in 2009), all tied to cocktails of legal prescription medications.
The drugs vary: there's Valium, Oxycodone, Hydrocodone, OxyContin, Vicodin, Valium, Xanax, Lexapro, Zoloft, Cipro, Klonopin, Valium, Lorazepam and Ativan, just to name a few -- but the paths, according to Velez-Mitchell, all lead to the same dead end.
In Addict Nation-An Intervention for America, Velez-Mitchell and co-author Sandra Mohr present a blueprint for change they claim can only be cultivated at the root of the problem.
- Gone Far Too Soon: We Honor the Young Stars Whose Lives Were Snuffed Out by Horrors Including '27 Club' Booze Binge and Hollywood's Drug OD Curse
- Larry Birkhead and Anna Nicole Smith's Relationship Explained in 6 Clicks
- 'She Would Be Amazing': Anna Nicole's Close Friends Set Sights on Rising Star to Play Late Icon in Book-Turned-Biopic
DAILY. BREAKING. CELEBRITY NEWS. ALL FREE.
Addict Nation-An Intervention for America has garnered high praise from all spectrums, as clinical psychologist Dr. Judy Kuriansky said Velez-Mitchell "deserves an honorary psychology Ph.D. for her insights on the human psyche."
"Addict Nation is a great read," The View's Joy Behar said. "I couldn't put it down. In fact, I read it over and over, and I can't wait to read it again. I think I'm hooked -- but in a good way."
According to media superstar Nancy Grace, Velez-Mitchell "breaks it down so we can not only understand addiction, but we can beat it!"
Issues With Jane Velez-Mitchell airs on Headline News weeknights at 7/6c.
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