Drug Rehab More Popular Than Ever

Drug rehab is the place to be! A record number of people are seeking help from drug and alcohol rehabilitation services, thanks in part to the numerous celebrities and their meltdowns in the press recently. People always follow the celebrities and their trends, and this is no different. Rehab is currently a fad; which is becoming more and more popular. Employees at the Salvos rehab facility Odyssey House suggest that the trend may be associated with some serious delusion, and not just the chemical kind.

Five perfect examples of trend-setting celebrities who have recently entered drug rehab, making it oh-so chic, are Kirsten Dunst, Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Amy Winehouse, and Britney Spears. These poster girls of detox are also the queens of denial. It appears that the more issues you have, the more popular you are in Hollywood and the more tabloid covers you get. What once used to tarnish a star's reputation is now making them more money. While Hilton and Lohan were busy having car wrecks last year, poor Winehouse and Spears were busy looking like wrecks.

Winehouse, whose popular hit, "No, no, no" is about not going to rehab, filled 2007 with eating disorders, public spats, and cancelled gigs. As if that's not enough to warrant urgent action, the pictures of the increasingly gaunt, pale and disoriented Winehouse haunting the streets of London should have been. But it was Winehouse inhaling what appeared to be crack cocaine that finally brought it home. Since leaving rehab, she seems to be doing well and staying off drugs; even performing a great live set via satellite at the Grammy's this year.

In Hollywood, Winehouse's soul sister Britney Spears was doing her own version of flash dance in full view of the paparazzi, culminating in the "manacled and hysterical" 26-year-old being whisked off to a psychiatric ward. And while we're taking a good look at celebs in drug rehab, AFL player Ben Cousins fronted the media at the World Boxing Association's "KO to Drugs" promotion. Even in the company of rugby player Sonny Bill Williams and boxer Anthony Mundine, Cousins looked visibly nervous, almost inaudible at times, squirming in his seat and taking deep, long breaths.

The celebrities are making light of a serious disease. Seeing stars battling with very human frailties might make others feel more comfortable in seeking help, but there's a real lack of understanding of just how tough it is in rehab. As Ian Archibald, project manager of Melbourne homeless services Crisis Help Network, tells it: "Rehabs do not have magic wands. There is a lot of hard work and confronting stuff to go through: tears and anger and frustration. The world of glamour stops at the rehab or detox door. Behind those closed doors there is no room for gala events or egos or excuses. Drug rehab is the great equalizer, where everyone is stripped bare."