Russell Brand Says Philip Seymour Hoffman’s Death Was Inevitable Due To Stupid Drug Laws

Russell Brand published an essay in The Guardian and blamed Hoffman’s death on “stupid” drug laws. As most of you know, Brand is a recovering heroin addict himself. He’s been sober since 2003, but he knows exactly how Hoffman must have been feeling when he started using again.

In the long essay, Brand says nothing will change until we change the way we treat addicts,

“Addiction is a mental illness around which there is a great deal of confusion, which is hugely exacerbated by the laws that criminalise drug addicts.”

And since the 38-year-old comedian has experience with addiction, he tried to explain why Hoffman would go back to drugs, even with all of the money and success he had,

“In spite of his life seeming superficially great, in spite of all the praise and accolades, in spite of all the loving friends and family, there is a predominant voice in the mind of an addict that supersedes all reason and that voice wants you dead.”

He also points out the obvious, writing that drug laws are “gallingly ineffective.”

“What prohibition achieves is an unregulated, criminal-controlled, sprawling, global mob-economy, where drug users, their families and society at large are all exposed to the worst conceivable version of this regrettably unavoidable problem.”

There are going to be a lot of people who disagree with what he published, but I suggest everyone should at least read it. You can agree or disagree, but you’ll never learn anything if you don’t listen to the other side. And the best part? It’s just his writing, which means you don’t have to hear his annoying accent!

You can read the full article by clicking here.