10 Huge Drug Busts Worth Billions

The War on Drugs has been waged for quite sometime now, but there seems to be no end to the illicit drug trade in sight. Not when drug lords dominate entire countries that produce most of the drugs in the world, or when demand remains frustratingly overwhelming. And even though authorities have scored really huge drug busts worth billions over the years, they’ve hardly made a dent on the drug trade in general. Here are 10 of the biggest drug busts.

Catch of the Day – 5 Tons of Coke

1. A joint U.S. Coast Guard, Customs Service and Drug Enforcement Agency operation intercepted a Panamanian freighter en route to Texas that yielded 9,500 pounds, or nearly five tons, of cocaine in 1999. According to the DEA, the cocaine was worth $186 million.

You Say Tomato, I Say Ecstasy – 4.4 Tons of MDMA Pills

2. Australian police and customs officials announced in 2008 that they have seized what is claimed to be the biggest haul—4.4 tons—of Ecstasy or MDMA pills in history. The drugs—hidden in 3,000 cans of tomatoes—were actually discovered in 2007, but the find worth £197 million, or $288 million, was kept secret, and was instead used as a means to track down and arrest the people behind the shipment.

There’s Hash in them Hills! – $300 Million of Hashish

3. Some £200 million or nearly $293 million worth of hashish were found in trenches and bunkers in Kandahar, Afghanistan in 2008. The drug cache, which reportedly was meant for use by the Taliban to fuel their war against the West, is so huge it is estimated to have weighed roughly the same as 30 double-decker buses.

More photos of hashish here.

Row Row Row your Blow – 13.8 Tons of Cocaine

4. Colombian authorities claimed in May 2005 that they have confiscated 13.8 tons of cocaine worth $US350 million which were concealed near a jungle riverbank in southern Colombia.

The Deadliest Catch – 40,000lbs of Cocaine

5. In March 2007, the U.S. Coast Guard seized 40,000 pounds of cocaine worth at least $500 million from three ships in what is regarded as the biggest maritime bust in U.S. history.

21 Bump Street – 21 Tons of Cocaine Seized in LA

6. Some 21 tons of cocaine which purportedly belonged to Mexican drug lord Rafael Muñoz Talavera of the Juárez cartel were seized from a Los Angeles warehouse in 1989.

Here Today, Gone Tomorrow, 27 Tons Seized in Pizarro

7. The Colombian Navy made headlines in 2007 when it announced the seizure of 27 tons of cocaine, the biggest in the nation’s history. Buried in 919 packages of 55 pounds each near the coastal town of Pizarro, the drugs are estimated to have a wholesale value of more than $500 million.

Tranquilandia in the Jungle – 14 Tons of Sr. Pablo Escobar’s Stash

8. A tip from the DEA prompted the Colombian government to raid “Tranquilandia”, a laboratory built in the jungles of Colombia by Medellín Cartel boss Pablo Escobar for large-scale cocaine production. The 1984 operation yielded 14 tons of cocaine, a haul with a street value of more than $1 billion.

Either that or the World Eats Plain Bagels for a Year – 17.5 Tons of Poppy Seeds

9. An anti-drug operation in Afghanistan led by a British cop resulted in the seizure last year of 17.5 tons of poppy seeds from opium plants, which would have grown 30 tons of heroin worth £900 million or $1.3 billion.

Big Bust? Just 2 Doses of Heroin?

10.  In what is regarded as the biggest heroin bust—and most valuable drug bust—ever, San Francisco, California authorities seized 1,080 pounds of heroin. Not much in size compared to those tons of cocaine busts, but drug war officials pegged the total street value of the cache at $2.7 billion to $4 billion. With an average dose of heroin being around 300mg that’s enough for every citizen of San Francisco to do heroin twice… all 808,000 people. Not Good.

Million Dollar Celebrity Endorsements Lost to Drug Use

The world of celebrity endorsements is a fickle one. One minute, celebrities are up to their necks in sponsorship deals, the next minute brands dump them at the slightest hint of a scandal that could tarnish their own reputation.

That’s because most advertisers these days have written moral clauses into the contracts of their celebrity endorsers, just to make sure they could quickly distance themselves from celebrities who’ve done something, well, bad, and are no longer seen as role models for their respective brands.

One such endorsement deal-breaker is getting involved with drugs. Whether someone exposes them to be drug users or worse, have pictures of them published while taking a hit, they can kiss a fortune in endorsements goodbye, just like the celebrities listed below have done.

1. Kate Moss

Weeks after pictures showing Kate Moss snorting several lines of cocaine in 2005 were made public, clothing retailers H&M, Chanel, and Burberry dropped the hard-partying English supermodel like a hot potato. Surprisingly, after getting out of rehab less than a year later, Calvin Klein, Dior, David Yurman and Louis Vuitton, and even Burberry signed her up for even juicier endorsement deals, helping Moss reach the top of the modeling world once again.

2. Ben Curtis (The Dell Dude)

Actor Ben Curtis became a celebrity of sorts when he starred in those annoying “Dude, You’re Getting a Dell!” ads circa 2000 to 2003. He could have played the hyper-enthusiastic Dell Dude character a few years more had he not been busted for attempting to buy a bag of marijuana in New York City in 2003. Shortly after his arrest, the computer giant dumped Curtis and his ad campaign.

3. Floyd Landis

Floyd Landis was at the top of the world after winning the 2006 Tour de France. But it was all downhill from that point on for the American cyclist when he was found to have used performance enhancing steroids, synthetic testosterone to be exact, during the competition, and he subsequently lost the title, $3 million due to the termination of his contract with erstwhile sponsor Phonak, $2 million in lost endorsements, and nearly $4 million in prospective endorsements of equipment, bike manufacturers, clothing and lifestyle products as reigning Tour de France winner.

4. Michael Phelps

Less than a year after being crowned the greatest Olympian of all time with his 8 gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Games, Michael Phelps was careless enough to get photographed smoking cannabis from a bong, and it’s a picture that British tabloid News of the World was only all-too-willing to publish earlier this year. Cereal and snack manufacturer Kellogg’s wasted no time and announced that it will not renew its sponsorship contract with Phelps. Many believe Phelps stands to lose more when other brands who have made deals with Phelps take their cue from Kellogg’s. Interestingly, Kellogg’s stock took a significant hit, no pun intended, after they dropped Phelps.

5. Lindsay Lohan

Lindsay Lohan was the face of Jill Stuart, but eventually, the fashion line smartened up and dropped Lohan in favor of Oscar-winning actress Hillary Swank. Officially, Swank was hired to replace Lohan in line with Jill Stuart’s decision to go for an “older” star to represent the fashion line. But Lindsay Lohan’s wild partying ways, multiple repeated stints at expensive rehabs and reputation for being a drug user, capped by a published picture purportedly of Lohan doing drugs may have had a hand in Jill Stuart’s decision to dump her.

6. Barry Bonds

Surprisingly for an athlete who shuns media and fans, homerun king Barry Bonds nevertheless snagged endorsement deals worth millions from such corporate giants as MasterCard and KFC, among others. But his popularity with advertisers crashed when he got involved in the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative (BALCO) steroid scandal in 2003. In 2007, he was indicted on perjury and obstruction of justice charges for allegedly lying while under oath about his alleged use of steroids.

7. Jason Giambi

Along with Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi was one of the major league baseball players who got embroiled in the 2003 BALCO steroid scandal. But unlike Bonds, who has adamantly denied ever using performance enhancing drugs, Giambi has admitted and publicly apologized for taking steroids. Nevertheless, he still lost lucrative deals, valued at around $3 million annually, with Nike, deodorant brand Arm & Hammer, and soft drink giant Pepsi after coming clean about his steroid use.

8. Justin Gatlin

Sprinter Justin Gatlin has, among other things, won the 100-meter gold medal winner in the 2004 Summer Olympics. As an Olympic and world champion, he stood to earn an estimated $2-4 million in annual endorsements and sponsorships. But in 2006, he tested positive for a banned substance, believed to be testosterone, and was subsequently meted a four-year ban from track and field competitions. Needless to say, Nike, Gatlin’s main sponsor, dropped him from its sponsorship stable a mere three weeks after his doping results came out positive, and prospective advertisers naturally shied away.

Find more on famous drug addicts throughout history, celebs who beat drug addiction, or those who sadly succumbed to the ultimate danger of drugs… overdose.

7 Countries Where Drug Lords Lord It Over

With a value currently estimated at $400 billion, drug trafficking is perhaps the most profitable illegal trade of all time. It’s also the most serious organized crime problem in the world today. Governments have spent billions upon billions of dollars, not to mention thousands of lives, combating the illegal drug business, but the results of this worldwide war on drugs remain mixed.

Despite the successful dismantling of the biggest drug cartels, the killing or arrest of the most powerful drug lords and drug busts worth billions, the drug business continues to thrive. This is partly because demand never waned, and partly due to the fact that drug lords continue to produce and transport their merchandise in certain countries with near-impunity. Unlike in some countries where you don’t want to get caught with drugs in, drug lords have practically made these countries their playground, applying a deadly mix of seemingly inexhaustible funds, corruption at the highest levels of government and an unflinching willingness to use brutal violence to tighten their grip on the drug trade and their respective countries.

1. Afghanistan

With the fall of the Taliban in 2001, the drug lords of Afghanistan have slowly worked their way towards becoming the world’s top producer of opium today. More than 90% of the world’s opium is produced in the country, a major part of The Golden Crescent, the name given to Asia’s principal area of illicit opium production covering Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan.

It is believed that the opium trade flourishes in Afghanistan because Afghan government officials are said to be involved in at least 70 percent of opium trafficking in the country. Experts even say that more than a dozen provincial governors have a direct hand in the production and distribution of opium. But one of the most serious allegations of Afghan government complicity in the country’s drug trade was made by Thomas Schweich, former U.S. State Department Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs.

In a New York Times article dated July 27, 2007, Schweich alleges that the government of President Hamid Karzai is protecting opium production. As serious as these allegations are, the US military, in Schweich’s opinion, look the other way and treat the drug trade as not being central to its anti-terrorism operations.

2. Burma (Myanmar)

Burma or Myanmar is a pillar of the so-called Golden Triangle, one of Asia’s two main areas of illicit opium production which also include Laos, Vietnam, and Thailand. It is the world’s second largest producer of illicit opium. Run by a military junta, Burma’s government has been on paper trying to eradicate opium production, but its senior officials have been persistently reported to be involved in the drugs trade, and that drug money continues to pour into government coffers.

Historically, the country has been dominated by larger-than life drug lords, the most infamous of them Khun Sa, aka “The Opium King”. Khun Sa produced as much as three quarters of the world’s heroin supply at one point, and was known for his ruthlessness that earned him the DEA sobriquet “Prince of Death”. Although he surrendered to the Burmese government in 1996 after decades at the top of the illegal opium trade, Khun Sa was never extradited to the United States to face drug charges, and reportedly lived a life of luxury in Rangoon until his death in 2007.

Today, the Burmese drug market is dominated by the United Wa State Army. Made up of ethnic fighters who control areas along the country’s eastern border with Thailand, it is said to be the largest drug-producing organization in Southeast Asia, and is believed to be an ally of the country’s ruling military junta.

3. Mexico

You know a country has a very serious drug trade problem when one of its most-wanted drug traffickers makes it to the Forbes list of the richest persons in the world. Joaquin “Shorty” Guzman, leader of the Sinaloa drug cartel in Mexico, was just recently listed by Forbes as the 701st richest person in the world with a net worth estimated at $1 billion.

The Guzman-led Sinaloa cartel is just one of the four major drug cartels wreaking havoc in Mexico, the major transit point for over 90% of America’s cocaine supply. With the dismantling of Colombia’s Medellín and Cali cartels, Mexico’s Sinaloa, Juarez, Tijuana and the Gulf cartels have become the predominant smugglers and wholesale distributors of South American cocaine and Mexico-produced marijuana, methamphetamine and heroin. These cartels have grown increasingly wealthy and powerful over the years, and if their ongoing war against the Mexican and US government is any indication, have become increasingly violent as well.

Since the beginning of 2008, more than 7,000 people have been killed in the drug-fueled violence that has practically turned some parts of Mexico into a virtual war zone. Killing civilians and beheading rivals from other cartels, policemen and soldiers have become commonplace, and the efforts of the US and Mexican governments to put them down hasn’t yielded any significant results just yet. Equipped with grenade launchers, automatic weapons, body armor, Kevlar helmets, these cartels are some of the most sophisticated and dangerous organized criminal groups ever faced by the US government.

4. Colombia

The Medellin and Cali cartels, which have come close to making Colombia a narco-state in the 1990s, may no longer exist, but Colombia remains the world’s top producer of cocaine, with 70% of the world’s coca leaf grown there, and approximately 90% of the world’s cocaine processing market.

For all the successes of Plan Colombia, the US-led counter narcotics operation in the country, Colombia continues its reign at the top of the cocaine trade due to the fact that smaller and more nimble organizations have sprung in the Medellin and Cali cartels’ place, most notably the Norte del Valle Cartel, or North Valley Cartel. Widely considered as one of the most powerful organizations in the illegal drugs trade, it is said to be employing the services of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), a right-wing paramilitary organization, to protect its cartel’s drug routes, laboratories and its members and associates.

Other existing players in Colombia’s drug trade include the smaller North Coast Cartel and the Marxist guerrilla group FARC, which has become increasingly involved in the drug trade, controlling farming, production and exportation of cocaine in those areas of Colombia under their control.

5. Peru

Peru is the second biggest producer of cocaine in the world, next only to Colombia. Historically, Peruvian farmers have been growing coca, the raw ingredient for cocaine, since before Spain colonized the country centuries ago. They continue to do so, considering that coca itself is legal, but making cocaine from it is not. Nevertheless, studies show that as much as 90 percent of that coca goes to the production of cocaine, a fact which contributes greatly to the growth of a multibillion-dollar shadow economy in Peru.

Further complicating Peru’s drug problems is the resurgence of a supposedly inactive Shining Path, a Maoist organization whose guerilla war with the government has claimed the lives of more than 70,000, as a major force in the Peruvian drug trade. Taking their cue from Colombia’s FARC and AUC, the group has now fully evolved into an illicit drug enterprise, protecting drug smugglers, extorting taxes from farmers and operating its own cocaine laboratories with an efficiency and ruthlessness that is the unmistakable trademark of an elite drug trafficking organization.

6. Bolivia

Ranking third behind Colombia and Peru in cocaine production is Bolivia, which, according to a recent United Nations report, has allocated 28,900 hectares of its land to coca production in 2007, a figure that is more than double than what Bolivian law allows. This leniency towards coca growing, however, is hardly surprising, considering that the sitting president, Evo Morales, did not only farm coca himself during his youth, but was also head of Bolivia’s coca growers association before he became president.

Last year, Bolivia under Morales has been blacklisted by the United States as a country which resists “international cooperation” on the drug trade, along with Burma and Venezuela. While this move by the US is largely perceived as a retaliatory political move after Morales kicked out the US Ambassador and agents of the DEA from the country, it is not entirely baseless. The production of coca in the country has grown steadily since Morales took office. And while coca itself is legal and an essential component of Bolivian culture, the legal market for the stimulant just could not absorb the ballooning production, resulting in the diversion of a large percentage of the crop to the production of cocaine.

Adding more to Bolivia’s drug woes is the fact that Bolivian drug lords have become more sophisticated and ultimately violent, churning out the illegal drug faster through state of the art laboratories, as well as starting violent turf battles that threaten to turn the country into another Mexico.

Apart from being a top cocaine producer, Bolivia is steadily assuming the role of a major transit point for cocaine shipments from Peru to Brazil.

7. The Bahamas

For such a tiny island nation like The Bahamas, it sure has a thriving illegal drugs trade. A recently released United States narcotics report has revealed that more than a dozen drug-trafficking organizations are operating in this Commonwealth territory. This underlies the central role in drug smuggling that it has assumed over the last two decades, starting with Medellin Cartel cofounder Carlos Lehder’s initiative to use The Bahamas as a transit point for drugs from Colombia into the United States. Lehder, who is currently incarcerated in the US, even went to the extent of commandeering an entire Bahamian island, called Norman’s Cay, and made it his own drug fortress, where 300 kilograms of cocaine would arrive every hour.

While the current Bahamian government is closely cooperating with the US on its war against drugs, it is interesting to note that the island nation was once rocked by serious allegations that involvement in the drug trade reached the highest levels of government, with no less than the late former Prime Minister Sir Lynden Pindling allegedly receiving more than $57 million in drug money in the mid-1980s. Although a royal commission formed to investigate the accusations found no conclusive evidence to implicate Pindling, the scandal further perpetuated the idea that an entire government can be paid off, something that most drug cartels and syndicates around the world have done, and will continue doing, as long as they are in business.

7 Countries You Don’t Want to Get Caught With Drugs In

Over the years, hundreds of tourists have been arrested in their various countries of destination for the simplest drug offenses. Lucky are those who got caught in countries where drug laws aren’t so stringent; more often than not, they get away with a brief stint in jail or fines.

Others, however, have had the misfortune of being caught in countries whose drug laws are quite harsh, and have learned the hard way how serious they are in implementing their drug offense penalties, which range from a lengthy prison term for simple possession of the minutest amount of illegal drugs to public beheadings for convicted drug traffickers. Here are seven countries you don’t want to get caught with drugs in.

1. Singapore

In a country where even vandalism can get one lashed with a meter-long rattan cane, it is expected that drug laws here are pretty strict. Anyone caught with at least 17 ounces of marijuana, or half an ounce of cocaine or heroin will be treated as a drug trafficker, and drug traffickers here get hanged. Between 1991 and 2004, 400 people went to the gallows for drug trafficking in this city-state, a number of them foreign nationals.

2. Malaysia

Singapore’s next –door neighbor is no less harsh when it comes to drugs. Under its laws, a mandatory death penalty is meted against anyone caught with seven ounces of marijuana or a half ounce of heroin, as these are amounts that constitute drug trafficking in this Southeast Asian country. Even those charged with just simple drug possession or use in Malaysia can expect severe punishment, including lengthy prison terms as well as heavy fines.

3. Iran

Iran is one of the most active executioners of drug offenders. Under the Islamic regime, up to 500 drug traffickers are executed every year. More than 10,000 narcotics traffickers and drug users have already been put to death in Iran in the past few decades. Drug possession and use is also punished severely. Getting caught with a few grams of marijuana could get one up to 70 lashes.

4. Indonesia

Some of the toughest anti-drug laws are implemented in Indonesia, where a drug user could get 10-15 years in jail. And as with other countries that use capital punishment for drug offenders, it reserves the maximum penalty for drug dealers, usually dispatched by firing squad.

5. Saudi Arabia

If alcohol is illegal in this Islamic kingdom, you can only imagine how illicit drugs are treated there. As with alcohol, penalties for possession and consumption of illicit drugs are severe, from public flogging to harsh jail sentences. Drug traffickers, meanwhile, get the same penalty as murderers and rapists: a public beheading.

6. China

From January 2005 to May 2006, China has convicted more than 53,000 people for various drug offenses, with more than 22,000 handed down harsh penalties including life imprisonment or the death penalty, even for non-violent drug offenses such as drug smuggling, trafficking, and production. And if there’s a country that beats Saudi Arabia—and the rest of the world for that matter—in sheer number of executions, it’s China. An estimated 470 people were executed in China in 2007, many of them drug offenders.

7. United Arab Emirates

The United Arab Emirates is one of the 20 or so countries which hands down capital punishment against drug offenders. The much scarier aspect of the UAE’s drug laws, however, is the fact that people get arrested there even for just an infinitesimal trace of any drug deemed illicit in the country.

Consider this: a Swiss national was sentenced to four years in prison after customs officials at Dubai airport found three poppy seeds on his clothes, presumably from a bread roll he ate at Heathrow Airport in London before his flight to Dubai!

Then there’s the even crazier case of Keith Andrew Brown, a British national also sentenced to a four-year jail term in Dubai. The reason? Dubai customs officials found 0.003g of cannabis, an amount so negligible it cannot even be seen by the naked eye, stuck to his shoe, in a cigarette Brown presumably stepped on somewhere on the way to Dubai.

Dubai may be one of the most liberal cities in the Middle East, but when it comes to their implementation of drug laws, it borders on the fanatical.

5 of the World’s Most Expensive Drug Rehabs

Undergoing drug or alcohol rehabilitation in a private rehabilitation facility isn’t a cheap proposition. But the amounts the rehab centers listed below charge their clientele are just plain stratospheric.

In a way, however, the sky-high price tags for enrollment in their programs can be justified; and for those with the financial means, why not get the best money can buy? These rehabs, after all, are a far cry from the minimalist, hospital-like blandness of previous generations of rehab facilities, where patients trying to recover from their addiction to cocaine, heroin, marijuana or other drugs are even made to do chores as part of the rehabilitation process. Now, they throw in gourmet chefs, luxurious quarters, spas, gorgeous views, yoga and Pilates sessions on top of an extensive and well-paid medical staff, as part of a therapeutic approach that totally spoils the soul, mind and body of a recovering addict and/or alcoholic. Here are five of the most expensive drug rehabs in the world.

1. Promises

Promises is a rehab facility located in an estate in Malibu, California that overlooks the Pacific Ocean. The quintessential California rehab center, it is a favorite destination among celebrities who want to clean up. Established in 1997, Promises promises a private haven for its clients, as only 24 patients are accommodated at any one time. Clients are made to stay in one of three luxurious houses, treated to gourmet meals, given ample gym time, as well as a chance to engage in various activities such as rock climbing and hiking. A month-long stay here costs $33,000, but could go up to $49,000 depending on the services required. Tara Reid, Diana Ross, Ben Affleck, and Robert Downey Jr. are just some of the many celebs who have had stints here.

2. Harmony Place

Located above the Pacific Ocean in Malibu, California, Harmony Place is a rehab facility that charges its clients $40,000 per month for a program that involves living in a campus that looks like an elegant ranch, “Equine Assisted Psychotherapy” sessions, sleeping in bedrooms with fluffy white duvets, hardwood floors and fireplaces, and lots of time in the gym.

3. Passages

Founded in 2001, the Passages rehabilitation center is yet another upscale rehabilitation center located in Malibu. Catering only to a wealthy clientele, Passages only accommodates 12 patients at a time. But for $40,000 to $50,000 a month, guests have their own private chef, use of a juice bar, library and media room with flat screen TVs, as well as one-on-one, non-12-step AA type recovery program therapy sessions, and a team of medical doctors, psychotherapists, acupuncturists, hypnotherapists, masseuses, and spiritual counselors at their disposal.

4. The Sanctuary

Nestled on the most easterly end of Australia is The Sanctuary, a luxurious rehab facility which specializes in the treatment of substance abuse and psychological disorders such as depression, stress, and trauma. At $18,500 a week, clients get to stay in beachfront bungalows, treated to a private chauffeured limousine, and are assigned their own private chef, acupuncturist, personal fitness instructor, a yoga and meditation teacher, as well as gain access to a round-the-clock medical staff. It is also known for its unique alcoholism treatment program, which is a mix of yoga, meditation, shiatsu and Western therapy methods.

5. Beau Monde

Beau Monde is a chain of ultra-posh rehab facilities with locations in Laguna Beach, Newport Beach and the Hollywood Hills. It offers a very private setting for wealthy recovering addicts or alcoholics to clean themselves up, as Beau Monde entertains no more than five people at a time. Guests are housed in luxurious private houses, and are treated to gourmet meals, twice-weekly massages, a gourmet cook and whale watching and shopping opportunities. Signing up for a program here is more like checking into a luxury hotel. And the price tag isn’t that far off, a month-long stay here could cost $96,000 or more.

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Check out more treatment facilities here. Know of another super high end addiction treatment facility or service? We’d love to hear about it, just add your comments below!

6 Celebrities That Beat Drug and Alcohol Addiction

Over the decades, we’ve seen countless celebrities do the usual dalliance with drugs and alcohol. Many remain addicts to this day, while some died young thanks to a drug or alcohol overdose. There are, however, some notable exceptions, wising up and successfully kicking their deadly drug and alcohol habit before it was too late. What’s more, these celebrities that beat their respective addictions went on to achieve highs in their careers that could never match any of the highs their former drugs of choice had given them.

1. Robert Downey Jr.

Shockingly enough, Robert Downey Jr. was only 6 years old when he first had a taste of marijuana. Growing up in a home where drugs were very accessible, he eventually developed a serious drug problem by the age of 22. The actor battled serious addictions to cocaine, heroin and other drugs. Between 1996 and 2001, Downey was arrested a number of times, and had several stints in drug rehab and in prison. As a result, his very promising career suffered, as producers were not really interested in hiring an otherwise brilliant actor who may at any moment get arrested again for his chronic drug habit.

But since his release from rehab in July 2002, Downey has stayed clean and is currently riding the wave of what could be one of the most amazing Hollywood comebacks of all time. On top of the insanely successful Iron Man, Downey has also scored an Oscar nomination for his turn as an Australian Method actor obsessed with his African-American role in Tropic Thunder. Projects are lined up left and right, and Downey is enjoying the high levels of success that he was always destined for.

2. Drew Barrymore

Long before Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears hogged the headlines with their wild child antics, there was Drew Barrymore. At the age of nine, Drew was already smoking cigarettes. She was an alcoholic at 11, a marijuana smoker by 12, and a cocaine addict by 13. She went to rehab twice, and even attempted suicide when she was 14.

But all that’s in the past now. Her wild child days behind her, Barrymore has grown into a sober, responsible and productive woman. Aside from starring in a slew of hits, she has also become a producer, forming the production company Flower Films with friend and partner Nancy Juvonen in 1995. Her company is responsible for hits like Charlie’s Angels and 50 First Dates. Quite a turnaround for a woman with a childhood as messed up as hers.

3. Charlie Sheen

If there’s one living proof that tough love works, it’s none other than Charlie Sheen. The actor, once dubbed “The Machine” by friends for his insatiable appetite for drugs, alcohol and women, had a taste of this kind of love from his father, Martin Sheen. Before his father intervened, Charlie, who began experimenting with drugs at 11, was a cokehead, and reportedly consumed two quarts of vodka a day.

Then came that fateful day in May 1998, when the younger Sheen, bored out of his mind in his Malibu home decided to try injecting cocaine. He overdosed, and a deeply concerned Martin reported his son to the judge himself. As Charlie was already under probation at that time, the judge issued a warrant for Charlie’s arrest and sent the younger Sheen to rehab.

The intervention saved Charlie’s life. Now 42, he has become one of the highest-paid actors in TV as the star of the sitcom Two and a Half Men. Charlie can only be thankful to his dad for doing what he did, when he did. This is the ideal result of an intervention.

4. Angelina Jolie

Angelina Jolie has confessed to doing “just about every drug possible”. In a 1998 interview, she admitted to using cocaine, heroin, Ecstasy, LSD and other drugs.

She has since given up drugs long ago, and is now one of the biggest stars in the world, an Oscar-winning actress, a mother of six, and a passionate humanitarian, famed for her work as a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Refugee Agency.

5. Robin Williams

People who have seen Robin Williams and his family-friendly films will probably find it hard to believe that the manic comedian was once a cocaine addict. At the beginning of his career, Williams was already a cokehead, and abused a number of different drugs as well. It took the drug overdose death of fellow comedian John Belushi to wake up Williams, who then took the initiative and checked into a rehab center.

After sobering up, Williams went on to star in many comedic hits, and established himself as a serious actor as well, with dramatic turns in The Fisher King and Good Will Hunting, where he won his first and only Oscar award, for Best Supporting Actor.

6. Oprah Winfrey

There are actually two sides to this Oprah-Winfrey-was-a-drug-addict story. On one hand, there’s the unforgettable TV moment in the 90s when she tearfully admitted in her own talk show that she had smoked crack cocaine while in her 20s, but never said anything about an addiction to the drug or anything else. On the other hand, there’s the more recent allegation made in a tell-all book by a former boyfriend that Oprah was actually a regular cocaine user in the 80s, and was in fact under the influence during her show tapings.

Whatever the truth is, it is clear that Oprah has now overcome whatever her drug demons of the 70s and 80s were. As of September 2008, Forbes has listed Oprah as having a fortune worth over $2.7 billion. CNN and Time Magazine dubbed her “arguably the world’s most powerful woman”. She is quite the success story, sordid drug past or not.

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2008 Celebrity Drug Related Deaths

Over the years, drugs have claimed the lives of dozens of celebrities in various fields. Almost every year for the past few decades, we have heard of actors, singers, musicians, athletes and other celebrities dying of a drug overdose, accidentally or otherwise. And last year was no exception. Here is a list of celebrities who have succumbed to drugs in 2008.

1. Natasha Collins, 31, British television presenter

Natasha Collins was a model, actress, and TV host who was found dead on January 3, 2008 in a bath at the home she shared with domestic partner and TV show co-star Mark Speight, with scalds covering about 60% of her body. According to investigators, Collins had a “‘very significant’ amount of cocaine in her system at the time”, as she and Speight had earlier been “partying” at their home and taken a cocktail of cocaine, sleeping pills and vodka. The lethal combination apparently caused her to fall unconscious in the bath, with the hot water taps running.

2. Christopher Bowman, 40, Olympic figure skater

Figure skater Christopher Bowman was a two-time U.S. national figure champion, a two-time World medalist, and an Olympian twice over, competing in Calgary in 1988 and in Albertville in 1992. But throughout his skating career, he had been suffering from a drug problem, and in fact had checked himself into the Betty Ford Clinic before the 1988 Games. Unfortunately, his drug use eventually got the better of him, when he was found dead on January 10, 2008 in a Los Angeles motel, the victim of an accidental drug overdose.

3. Brad Renfro, 25, actor

One of the more promising young stars of the 1990s, Brad Renfro rose to fame in the film adaptation of the John Grisham thriller The Client. Unfortunately, much of his career was ruined by his habitual substance abuse. A heroin overdose eventually claimed his life on January 15, 2008, at the age of 25.

4. Heath Ledger, 28, actor

The Australian actor, who posthumously won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar recently for his brilliant turn as The Joker in the billion-dollar hit “The Dark Knight”, died of an accidental prescription drug overdose on January 22, 2008. According to the report of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of New York, Ledger “died as the result of acute intoxication by the combined effects of oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam and doxylamine”, and subsequently ruled the death as an accident.

5. Chase Tatum, 34, professional wrestler

Chase Tatum was known as a former wrestler for World Championship Wrestling, but he also dabbled in other forms of show business, having acted in a comedy film and worked as a road manager and personal assistant to rapper Big Boi of Outkast. A back problem led to a dependency on painkillers, an addiction Tatum had been battling for years, according to his father. Ten days after undergoing back surgery to repair a degenerative disc, he was found dead at his home in Atlanta, Georgia on March 23, 2008, after an apparent accidental drug overdose.

6. Anastasia Blue, 28, porn star

According to reports, porn star Anastasia Blue, who has starred in more than a hundred adult films, died of an apparent suicide, reportedly overdosing on Tylenol on July 19, 2008.

7. Missy, 40, porn star

News of the death of pornographic actress Missy from an accidental prescription drug overdose sometime in August last year was reportedly withheld by her family on purpose so no colleagues and friends of Missy’s from the adult movie business would attend her funeral. Adult Video News eventually reported the story a month later.

8. Steve Foley, 49, drummer

Best known as a former drummer for American rock band The Replacements, Steve Foley was no stranger to drug use, just like almost every other rock musician in the business. But before he died on August 23, 2008 at the age of 49 from an accidental overdose of prescription medicine, he had been sober for 15 years, although he was under medication for depression and anxiety prior to his death.

9. Gidget Gein, 39, musician

Gidget Gein, Marilyn Manson’s former second bassist, was a drug abuser whose personality reportedly became more and more chaotic with his heavy drug use. Ironically, he died of a heroin overdose on October 8, 2008 after a year of being sober.

10. Tiffany Sloan, 35, Playboy model

Tiffany Sloan, who graced the centerfold in the October 1992 issue of Playboy Magazine, died from a drug overdose on November 1, 2008 in Las Vegas. According to people who knew her, Sloan had already been battling drug and alcohol problems for some time before her death.

11. John Odom, 26, professional baseball player

Odom was a minor league pitcher whose name was not familiar among baseball fans, but he achieved some sort of celebrity when he was traded by his team for ten baseball bats. Known to fans as “Bat Man,” “Bat Guy” and “Bat Boy”, Odom was said to have resented the often unwanted attention the humiliating trade showered on him. On November 5, 2008, a deadly combination of heroin, methamphetamine, benzylpiperazine and alcohol killed Odom.

12. Pimp C, 33, rap artist

Rapper Pimp C, born Chad Butler, was often credited for helping define Southern hip-hop. The other half of the Houston-based rap group UGK was found dead in a Hollywood hotel room on December 4. According to police, an accidental overdose of Promethazine/Codeine “syrup”, coupled with Pimp C’s pre-existing medical condition sleep apnea, led to the rapper’s death.

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Know of other celebrities who overdosed on drugs in 2008? Please let us know by adding a comment below and we will add them to the list! Hopefully these tragic losses have one positive aspect, and that is that because of their high profile many people will see the real possibility of drug abuse ending their lives and deeply affecting those around them.