I come to bury Heath Ledger, not praise him

His death no longer a mystery, media outlets around the world are blaring the story, “Accidental Overdose Killed Heath Ledger”. Although I enjoyed many of his movies and was looking forward (still am) to his portrayal of the Joker in the upcoming Batman movie, his death did not affect me any more than that of any other stranger who died from drug abuse. I write this post not in praise of the admittedly gifted young actor, but to make an example of his death.

Saying that Ledger’s death is “accidental” or due to “prescription drugs” is doing a disservice to what could be the actor’s last gig as the subject of a public service announcement. He died because he abused drugs. Found by his masseuse in an upscale apartment, dead from a handful of different prescription pain killers and sleeping pills should be considered the equivalent of OD’ing on heroin and being found in rigor three days later only because of the stench emanating from a public bathroom stall. In my book there is absolutely no difference between a heroin addict getting his fix and someone like Heath Ledger self medicating to live. There is a very large difference however in the way the general public and even doctors react to such occurrences.

"This is not rock star wretched excess," said Cindy Kuhn, a pharmacology professor at Duke University. "This is a situation that could happen to plenty of people with prescriptions for these kind of drugs."~ AP

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Apparently Dr. Kuhn must think that you have to be biting the head off a live bat and trashing hotel rooms to be capable of drug abuse. As if an otherwise healthy individual taking six different kinds of painkillers and sedatives, and dying from acute intoxication should not be considered a wretched excess.

The cause of death was “acute intoxication by the combined effects of oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam and doxylamine,” spokeswoman Ellen Borakove said in a statement.~Wired

I am not alone in hoping that Ledger’s death will service a higher purpose. A. Califano, Jr., Chairman and President of The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University recently released this statement.

"The tragic death of Heath Ledger as a result of the abuse of controlled prescription drugs is sadly a story too familiar to many American parents. I hope that the death of this young man in the prime of his life with so much potential, serves as a wake-up call to parents and teens that prescription drugs can be just as dangerous as street drugs like cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin. We must abandon the notion that abuse of controlled prescription drugs like OxyContin, Valium and Xanax is somehow safer than abuse of illegal street drugs." ~ Marketwire

Accidental overdose makes a palatable headline for a guy you remember fondly because of the movie characters he played, but the sad truth is that Heath Ledger died from drug abuse just like thousands of nameless victims every year.