I think this sums things up for me

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2018741/Amy-Winehouse-dead-Genius-life-admire.html

The untimely death of anyone is a tradgedy but I feel that she has done much harm to the young of today. She is not a role model I would want my grandchildren to follow, nor I suspect would anyone else.
She had a great talent but talent is not enough. I feel for her Father who tried so hard to get her clean but lost the fight.
Sorry but I have little sympathy for someone who was so lucky to have the riches she had and to throw away her life like this. She could have had the very best of treatment and could have been a much better role model if she had fought her demons and helped others to do the same. I can only hope that her family make some good use of her fortune by helping others who like Amy had addictions they could not fight.
To Amy's family I send my condolences.
Aileen

Her album Back to Black was one of the best I have ever heard. She was a great talent but like so many flawed. An addictive personality is diffecult to overcome, she died much as she lived sad and alone.

I think my sorrow is for such a waste and for her family and friends that tried so hard to help - it was not to be. But any death from addiction be it alcohol, drugs or fags is a loss - and "there for the grace of god" could have gone one of my kids.

I talked to my son about it and he has a needle phobia so he said, he might get addicted to fags or booze but never ever stick a needle in himself. I understand she also self harmed and it was so sad looking at was a lovely girl, ending up a haggered tattooe'd mess - what a waste of person, any person.

Best wishes to her family and I hope they know that they had tried their best and I applaude them for it.

I've just finished reading Martina Cole's novel Faceless and one character in particular was convinced after the next fix she would get her life back together and look after her daughter properly but it never happens. I don't think this character has been exaggerated & it's given me more understanding of an addictive personality which is what AW obviously had, god forbid though she should be a role model.

It's good to see that amongst the largely judgemental posts there are some with the compassion to understand that it's not necessarily down to pig-headedness, selfishness, being spoilt, falling in with a bad crowd, a lack of love or friends or anything else, though any or all of these may be involved. Addiction is an illness that ruins lives indiscriminately. My oldest brother has been a heroin addict and alcoholic for over 35 years. It started when his only friends killed themselves aged 16 in a car accident--he was 15 and he couldn't cope. My family have moved heaven and earth to help him since we found out, and the best we can see is that he is relatively stable. In the last year he has suddenly cut his ties with all of us--he moved 2000 miles away, has no phone, no email, and he doesn't want our help. I couldn't begin to describe what this has done to my mother and every day is just another day closer to the day we hear from a stranger that the person we love is gone. Does blaming anyone make any difference?

I think that is the problem, it is nobodies fault but normally a combination of circumstances and events that often triggers somebody into succumbing to addicitions. I do think that people do however have predisposition to become an addict but it is if the person is strong enough to be able to battle and win over it.

Unfortunately it is human nature to try and pin point the root cause of it and this is often the cases that people feel reponsible for not being able to stop the person. The pain and anguish which families and friends go through is often under estimated and sadly the support given is often lacking.

I think in Amy Winehouses situation, she had many advantages and chances to overcome her demons, which other people do not have and think that is where people perhaps have been judgemental.

Money only made it easier to buy the next fix - in the last year her personal fortune dropped nearly 2 million.

Alledgedly she spent over 100K paying for one of her friends to go through rehab, quite bizarre that she would help them but not help herself. It is reported that she drew them into the drugs scene and suppose it was her way of trying to put things right.

Its sad to see a life wasted like this but sadly her choice was to take drugs which no doubt had a role to play.

I do wonder why people keep saying it was her 'choice' - no one chooses to be an addict, dependent physically as well as mentally, on some substance or other.

Having money doesnt make it any easier, especially when that money is dependent on you remaining within the 'scene' that makes it SO easy to access drugs, alcohol etc and in many ways makes it seem almost acceptable to do these things.

For any addict to sort themselves out they need to recognise there is a problem - the celebrity/music scene is rammed to the gills with people who will go out of their way to make it seem normal, par for the course, part of the job, so that aspect is even harder than it  is for a non-celeb.

Then generally you have to remove yourself from the social 'set' that indulges in these things - for ANYONE, ditching your social circle is hard, harder still when your income relies upon it.

I know a young lady w ho has had hundreds of thousands of pounds thrown at her rehab. Her addiction is not drugs or drink either, but she CANNOT remove herself from the circle of people that exacerbate the problem (her family!) and she lives surrounded by people who deem hers a 'normal' way of life.

Unsurprisingly, she is not 'cured' but you tell me - could YOU walk away from  your ENTIRE life, friends, family  and give up doing something that, in doing so will make you feel physically, iller than you have ever been in your life?

You think thats easy?

No thats why I would not judge her, I have an addictive personality myself not to drugs but other things - well actually it was to pain killers - I have broken the habilt about three times so far, but it is easy to buy codine from Boots, local chemists and the surgery across the road.
Its so easy to do, so dont judge folks, it could have been one of your's, just miss the talent lost and the parents grieving - money (as we say) isn't everything.

I agree - it is so easy to judge and one never knows what the future has in store for any of us. I know a family who lost their son in a tragic accident and it has torn their family apart. Dad drinks, mum rarely has the energy or will to anything much at all and the life they knew previously is just a distant memory.

Life sometimes takes a turn that can make us lose our way - and none of us know how we will deal with it until we are at that place. The loss of any life is very sad :-(