People
Phillip Seymour Hoffman died of a heroin overdose on February 2, 2014; he’d been sober 23 years before relapsing with fatal results.
Amy Winehouse died from alcohol overdose: a blood-alcohol reading of .416, more than 5 times the legal limit for drunk driving. She’d had a well-known struggle with drug and alcohol problems.
Heath Ledger dead of prescription drug overdose.
R & B singer Vesta Williams died of a possible drug overdose.
New York Rangers hockey player Derek Boogaard died of an overdose of oxycodone and alcohol.
Former Olympic sprinter and Track coach Antonio Pettigrew overdosed on sleeping pills and allergy medications.
Comedian Greg Giraldo suffered reported drug overdose.
Actor Corey Haim, who’d sought help for addiction to oxycontin and cocaine, found dead.
DJ AM, celebrity disc jockey, found dead with crack pipe and unspecified prescription drugs nearby.
Rapper Pimp C dies of overdose of codeine cough syrup.
Jockey Michael Baze, who’d been arrested for drunk driving and possession of cocaine, found dead in his car.
Artist Dash Snow dies in hotel room with evidence of alcohol and heroin abuse.
Garrett Reid, son of Philadelphia Eagles coach Andy Reid, was found dead on August 5, 2012 from what was later found to have been a heroin overdose. Reid had previously undergone addiction treatment.
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Not only celebrities die of drug overdoses. For a story about one particularly hard hit county in New Mexico, click here.
Why are drugs so rewarding that people spend tens of billions of dollars on them every year, risking imprisonment, addiction and overdose? The answer lies in the way drugs manipulate neurons at the molecular and cellular levels. For more, click on Addiction Science Intro/Menu.