Pete Wentz "Spiraled" in to Rx Drug Addiction

Pete Wentz "felt like a loser" Photo via
Pete Wentz, the frontman of American pop punk band Fall Out Boy, says he recently recovered from an addiction to prescription drugs that stemmed from his band's hiatus and his divorce from pop star Ashlee Simpson. Wentz, 33, had abused prescription drugs Xanax and Klonopin during Fall Out Boy's mid-2000s heyday, but says he curtailed his drug use after the birth of his son, Bronx, in 2008. However, the band's 2009 hiatus, along with his subsequent divorce, led to the bassist's drug habit spiraling out of control. "I was probably physically and mentally addicted. It started from insomnia and anxiety from flying, then it spiraled," says Wentz in the latest issue of Rolling Stone. "I felt like a loser already. I'd basically gone from being the guy in Fall Out Boy to being the guy who, like, hangs out all day. I didn't see how I'd ever come out on the other side." His drug use also led to bouts of extreme paranoia. "I was scared of everything. I thought there were always people listening to me," he says. "Like, I had my house searched for bugs. It was crazy." Although he never entered into drug treatment, Wentz credits therapy and the desire to be a good father with helping him beat his addictions. "You're up in the morning and you really have to be there. It's not like getting up for a radio interview," he says, "In some ways, that was super helpful for my soul."
Woman Quits Smoking by Slapping a Cop

She's finally free! Photo via
Here's one way to quit smoking: assault police personnel, get arrested and be forced to go cold turkey in jail. This was the plan that led 31-year-old Etta Lopez to wait outside the Sacramento County Jail for hours for a law enforcement official to come out, so she could slap him. The victim of her ploy, Deputy Matt Campoy, says she came out of nowhere and purposely blocked his path. “All of a sudden, she stepped into me and slapped me in the face,” he says. As she had hoped, Lopez was immediately arrested and taken to jail. “She told us that she needed to quit smoking,” says Campoy. “She explained it with great detail as to why.” One of Lopez's neighbors says he supports her quitting the habit, but not her chosen cessation method. “There’s easier ways to stop smoking than hitting a cop,” he says. “that’s not the way I want to quit.” Kimberly Bankston-Lee of California anti-smoking group Breathe California says that the desperation behind such a plan shows just how difficult it is to quit. “If it led somebody to do something like that to quit, that lets us know in the community that we have a real problem,” says Bankston-Lee. Check out the local news report below:
Heavy Pot Smoking Not Linked to Cancer

Good news, potheads! Photo via
Good news for Cheech and Chong! Hardcore potheads may be at no greater risk for lung cancer than those who only toke up occasionally, according to new research. The link between marijuana and lung cancer has been long disputed, but a new study from the International Lung Cancer Consortium (ILCCO) found that habitual pot smokers were not more likely to develop lung disease than non-habitual pot smokers, no matter how long they had used the drug. Researchers looked at data from six case-control studies of 2,159 lung cancer cases and 2,985 controls, in the U.S., Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, from 1999 to 2012. While examining the marijuana smokers—and excluding tobacco smokers—they found frequency of pot use did not affect lung cancer risk. However, researchers allowed for the possibility that an "extremely high dosage [of pot] over long periods of continued exposure,” could still be dangerous. Though other studies have claimed marijuana's cancer risks are underestimated, many believe cigarettes are far more toxic due to chemical additives in the smoke. "The conventional wisdom is that cannabis smoking is not as dangerous as cigarette smoking," says pulmonologist Michael Alberts, although he does caution that smoking anything can harm the respiratory system. But for medical marijuana patients, he says the drug may be worth the respiratory risk, depending on condition. Says Alberts: "If cannabis is indicated, and if it’s legal, and if there’s literature backing up the indication for use, then you weigh the risk of smoking and the benefit it could bring, and make the decision."
Charlie Brown Actor Ordered To Rehab

Robbins (left) and Charlie Brown Photo via
Good grief! Peter Robbins, the original voice of Charlie Brown, was sentenced to a year in jail and then immediately released and sent to a drug treatment center for threatening his former girlfriend and stalking her plastic surgeon. In the mid-'60s, the voice actor played the famously beleaguered star of numerous Peanuts TV specials, including It's a Charlie Brown Christmas and It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Robbins, 56, pled guilty last month and has been in jail since last January for calling his ex-girlfriend 37 times in a day and threatening to kill her and her son if she didn't return his car and his dog (named Snoopy). He also allegedly stalked her female plastic surgeon and demanded a refund for her breast enhancement, calling the office so frequently that the surgeon moved to a hotel and hired an armed guard. Robbins blamed his behavior on his addictions to alcohol and prescription drugs, declaring that treatment was a necessary step to becoming the "the fun-loving person" he once was. In addition to sentencing Robbins to five years' probation, Superior Court Judge Dwayne Moring also ordered him to pay the plastic surgeon $15,082 in restitution and to avoid contacting her for 10 years. Any violations of terms of his probation will lead to a mandatory four-year sentence. Judge Moring borrowed a line from Charlie Brown's friend Lucy in telling Robbins in court: "Don't be a blockhead."
Morning Roundup: May 9, 2013

Laurie Dhue would "sleep in a fetal position"
at work.
Photo via
- Cigarettes Are a Gateway Drug, Scientists Say [Yahoo!]
- Marijuana Habit Not Linked to Lung Cancer [Clinical Psychology News]
- Plastic Surgery Addict Hang Mioku: Cooking Oil Injections Disfigure Face Of Former Model [iScienceTimes]
- Former Fox News Anchor Discusses 'Dark' Struggle With Alcoholism [Mediaite]
- Cure Your Work Addiction: Here's How [TIME]
- Mood Problems Increase Risk for Internet Addiction [Good Therapy]
- Feds Sue Landlord of Longtime Berkeley Pot Dispensary [LA Times]
Angry Birds Addict Uses Game to Propose to Girlfriend

Don't get any ideas, fellas. Photo via
A man from Sydney, Australia, is so hooked on Angry Birds, he proposed to his girlfriend with a custom-made game. Thirty-year-old Ben Levi's obsession with the mobile phone game had become a point of contention in his relationship with Melissa Swift, 24, as he was constantly playing it. “We'd be out... with friends like civilized people and you've got Angry Birds going on under the table,” says Swift. So she wasn't surprised when the couple were out at lunch and he invited her to play at the table. But she was surprised when the game—a custom version that Levi had commissioned from the game's creators, Rovio—ended with the message: “Marry Me Mel -Ben.” Swift said "yes," and her opinion of the game has since changed. “It took Angry Birds to finally get him to propose...I love them," she says, "Nothing else would motivate him, but Angry Birds did it, so I'm forever grateful.” Levi "joked" that he's considering an Angry Birds-themed wedding. Check out the video of the proposal:









