Whenever a celebrity or someone of note dies of a drug overdose or even those who kill themselves you always hear people say something like “why would they use drugs with everything they have?”. They disregard the whole idea of happiness and what makes happiness and seem to equate fame and fortune to a fulfilling life, which is far from the truth. I think to answer this question we have to look at happiness as a whole and why someone in their position might be using drugs to try and attain happiness.
I have written a few articles on the idea that money doesnt buy happiness, because it really doesnt. However, there is a level of wealth that does increase happiness, mostly because it removes the biggest stresses of day to day life that make us unhappy. If you are worried about whether or not you can afford to feed yourself or pay your rent the next week, you arent going to be a happy person. However the level needed is relatively low before money ends up only adding marginal happiness at a very very low level, that only gets smaller. The happiness gained from buying a $30,000 car to drive isnt that much less than one gained from buying a $300,000 car in the long run.
Happiness is relative to the person as well so what you might consider a happy life might be miserable for someone else. If you apply this on a larger scale you have countries where people are middle class but living in what we would consider poverty, but they are happy because its what they know. So on to the main topic, why do many of these noteworthy people take drugs in the first place? Simply because the majority of them taking the drugs are unhappy with their lives to begin with. They might feel like they are not living a life worth anything or they might just not have much to live for.
Celebrities live in a very fake world where people are often around them only to agree with them or be their friend. Theres a reason they usually marry and spend time with eachother, because they need someone on their level that they don't think is using them for some reason. Being cut off from a large amount of human interactions because of this, is very damaging to the frame of mind and a very sad existance. In many ways even if people want to be their friend they just want to be on the same level as everyone else. Also not to mention if you can have anything you want, theres nothing you need to really work for. In many ways I think if we looked into their lives, you would not envy them.
Hard drugs many people use and continue using because they make their day to day lives feel better. They suddenly dont feel the depression or sadness that they have in the past. For celebrities who actually live a very limited life that is hard to escape, drugs may seem like the answer. For this reason these notable people are never going to stop taking drugs to make them happy. Its not only limited to celebrities though, there are many people who feel the same way, which is why we have such a problem with drugs in the first world. The key is many people lack purpose or meaning which only compounds the problem.
-Calaber24p