Whitney's Legacy by William Moyers on Creators.com

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Whitney's Legacy

Had she lived, Whitney Houston would have been in the second-to-last "class" of baby boomers turning 50 years old. Her death underscores a dangerous dynamic facing this generation as it enters older age.

About 77 million Americans were born between 1946 and 1964, the span generally defined as the baby boom generation. Now we're entering late middle age and senior years. Yes, it happens to the best of us; we're getting old.

With aging come all sorts of health issues, many of them involving acute or chronic pain — the ache of arthritis and stiffness of old injuries, dental problems, surgeries to correct everything from heart disease to degenerative joints, etc. Nobody likes to suffer, and no one should. Pain medication helps. Emotional and mental illnesses, such as depression and anxiety, also are a problem for older adults, and there are medications to treat them effectively.

Recovery from addiction came of age during these decades, too. Although Alcoholics Anonymous began in 1935, it wasn't until the 1960s that treatment for alcoholism or drug dependence became common. There's a significant subset of boomers who got sober as they grew up. Many now have decades of sustaining, healthy recovery.

The challenge for boomers in recovery is safeguarding their sobriety while dealing with the inevitable health issues of older age. This doesn't mean we have to bite the bullet and revel in the hurt while stone-cold sober or avoid medications to overcome illnesses of the mind or spirit.

I've been in long-term recovery continuously since 1994. But I haven't been completely drug-free. Nor have I relapsed. In the past 18 years, I've sought medical help for various ailments. Part of the healing process has included medications, including those for pain.

Several of these medications — for example, hydrocodone (found in Vicodin), oxycodone (Percocet) and codeine — are narcotics. Some people can become addicted to them. To people in recovery, they are the muse that beckons us back to the mirage of a promised land that was the personal hell we swore to escape.

Other medications, such as alprazolam (Xanax), can be used to manage anxiety or panic disorders. They, too, can be habit-forming. And addicts in recovery are especially susceptible to the addictive effects.

That's why the dentist and the doctor and the surgeons whose skills I've called on in my sobriety all know my personal history of addiction, treatment and recovery. I tell them. They keep careful tabs on my meds, restrict my supply (I rarely am allowed more than a single refill) and remind me to always visit the same pharmacy. It is easier to fool a lot of pharmacists than it is one, even in this era of prescription-monitoring systems designed to keep addicts from hopping around for a buzz. Most of the time, my docs keep it simple and just order me to take two extra-strength aspirin, get off my feet and call them the next day.

When I'm taking these medications, I must do my part to "stay in the middle of the bed," as my mentor in recovery reminds me, and not fall off the side. Because addiction is an illness affecting the mind, body and spirit, this means taking care of me. So I eat right and exercise regularly. I stay connected to a power greater than myself and attend group meetings with other addicts and alcoholics in recovery. And I remain vigilant to the temptations that go beyond simply not drinking or taking the illegal drugs that got me in trouble a long time ago.

I don't know whether Whitney Houston ever considered herself an alcoholic or addict, though she was candid about her struggles with substances and sought professional treatment several times. If she ever discovered sobriety, she lost it, because in the last few days of her life, people saw her drinking Champagne. Bottles of prescription medication were found in her hotel room. Her body was discovered underwater in the bathtub. She was 48 years old.

Perhaps her lasting legacy will be not just that of a singer but also that of a woman whose struggles hold a painful and poignant lesson for all of us.

William Moyers is the vice president of public affairs and community relations for the Hazelden Foundation and the author of "Broken," his best-selling memoirs, and "A New Day, A New Life." Please send your questions to William Moyers at wmoyers@hazelden.org. To find out more about William Moyers and read his past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.