Dr. Drew: Celebrities need more time in rehab

updated 4:33 p.m. ET June 30, 2008

LOS ANGELES - Hollywood has a serious drug problem, and isn’t committing the time it takes to fix it, according to Dr. Drew.

Not only are substances plentiful and socially acceptable in most celebrity circles, but stars who seek treatment often opt for abbreviated programs in exclusive environments, Drew Pinsky, host of radio’s “Love Line” and VH1’s “Celebrity Rehab,” told The Associated Press.

Drew, who has studied what draws stars to drugs, presents his findings in the hourlong “VH1 News Presents: Dr. Drew’s Celebrity Addiction Special,” which airs Tuesday.

“Today, in the celebrity world, we’re seeing an addiction epidemic,” Pinsky said, adding that the disease of addiction is more deadly than cancer.

“If you had cancer, you would drop everything,” he says. “You would take whatever time it needed to do the treatment and do what it takes to get out on the other side. Here’s a disease that is more dangerous, and we can’t get people to take three months.”

These compound challenges give celebrity drug addicts a “bad prognosis,” Pinsky told The Associated Press.

“I don’t like treating celebrities,” he said. “It’s not a group I would seek out of a population I would necessarily treat as a separate goal because they’re very, very difficult.”

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