Cleaning up the act

May 30th – There’s a certain type; a person has a certain aura about them that singles them out not only to night-stringers but also, in many cases, to the ordinary Joe in the street. Teachers do it well, those who've had a little training in the first instance. There were (and I guess still are) schools where the incidence of recreational sherbet-taking is, if not rife then certainly not uncommon. Morning duties not only require the taking of the register, there are also the ‘eye-test’, the ‘whiter shade of pale test’, the ‘continuing to wear long sleeves in the height of summer test’ and the ‘regular nosebleeds test’. Tell-tale signs that can’t be disguised in a pupil’s pupils, pallor or demeanour that marks them out for further research.

Trouble is most folk who take drugs all start out with the belief that it’ll not claim them. Wrong. It will in some way or other either financially, socially or healthily. The lucky ones either listen to those who bring it to their attention or notice the signs themselves and either draw back or quit. For those who have the money and back-up things are a little easier, inasmuch as they can be closer to the edge than most and be able to call on the help of experts (at a price) to bail them out. The Priory, Castle Craig and Promis are just three of the many rehab centres in the UK where help and guidance can be found if all else fails (and it often does) trouble is just like the drugs, it comes at a price.

The cheaper end of the market is around £650 per week, the middle end? £5k per week and then upwards. So, your best plan? Cut it or quit it before the bills do it for you…and, if you do have to check in then have the common sense not to do it more than once, huh? Rehab to rehab is no way to travel, trust me. Once upon a time there was guy called Pete Doherty; remember him? If your answer is “vaguely” then his binges and repeated rehab use have done their job, same as they did for Dee Dee Ramone, Amy Winehouse, Bill Ward, Anthony Kiedis, the list goes on…and on…and in most cases you can say, on hearing that they’re undergoing yet another summer holiday with granny;

“Well, yup. That figures.”

And then there are those who, when you hear they've succumbed to the demon drug you say;

“Bloody hell. Who’d have thought it?”

Such a one for me was Diana Ross who, on this day in 2002 entered a rehab clinic to clear up some personal issues. I always thought her life was pretty well sorted but then, you never can tell and the tales of how addictions can creep up on you and stab you in the back when you thought, all along, they were your friend are legion. My guess is she did the right thing and chose the right place. It may seem that at $33,500 for the cost of one month at the Promises Rehab Centre in Malibu would be prohibitive but let’s face it any clinic that can clean up Charlie Sheen has got to be worth stumping up the fee for, what say you?