Addiction and the Janis Joplin play

On season 4 of Living Smart, I will be hosting a show on the science of addiction. I chose this topic because I lost a family member to an addiction. He was a sweet man with a terrible disease which eventually took his life. At the time we knew little except that maybe he did not try hard enough to quit, or that he needed twelve steps or to find God. I believe all these things are important, your will, religion and faith, but as time passes I realize there is so much more science behind this than we know and that this needs to be treated like a medical disease. New pet scans show us where the problem is in the brain and what sort of treatments can work best. Dr. Tom Kosten, a psychiatrist from Baylor College of Medicine is leading the research on a cocaine vaccine. He will be my guest. Addiction vaccines work the same way as traditional vaccines use to treat diseases. They zero in on addictive chemicals that people snort, shoot or swallow. When injected the vaccine triggers the immune system to develop antibodies. The next time the drug is ingested, the antibodies will latch onto it and preventing it from getting into the brain. IF these vaccines work, it could change the lives of millions.

LAST NIGHT I SAW THE PLAY LOVE JANIS at the Alley..about the life of Janis Joplin. I knew little of Joplin because I was not raised here and by the time we moved back to the USA, she was already gone. I was not too keen on her music, precisely because I always identified it with drug addiction and that is what my family member used to listen to Joplin, and acid rock.

I enjoyed the play because it reminded me how tragic drug addiction was and is for so many. Do you realize three great artists, Janis Joplin, Jimmy Hedrix and Jim Morrison died at age 27 of drug overdoses? Why? In this play they don't discuss too much why Janis died. She was, like the other two, a victim of her time. In the 60's doing drugs seemed cool and if you were an artist, the thing to do. As soon as these incredible and revolutionary performers died, other artists started paying attention to drug abuse. Unfortunately for Joplin, Hendrix and Morrison it was too late.

I didn't know why Janis was so great but I learned it last night. She has a very unique voice, talent and passion. She also broke through racist ideas that blacks should only sing "black" music and white folks, should just sing "white" music. She was the first to mix blues with rock and roll. She stood up against racism in her town of Port Arthur and she actually learned to think critically and sing passionately.

I can say I discovered last night why Joplin was great. I had heard "me and Bobby McGee" in the past and her unique rendition of "Summertime" but what I really loved about this performer is that she was true to her art. As always the Alley does incredible work. The band was awesome, the performer qhite good. It is almost impossible I would think to be like Joplin..there is only one Joplin but she did a great job. I have to be a bit critical of the accents the actresses playing Joplin were doing. They sure didn't sound like Texas girls but they did a great job portraying an incredible and never forgotten artist.