Rodney King found dead in pool

LOS ANGELES, CA - APRIL 30: Rodney King arrives at EsoWon bookstore to sign copies of his new book, 'The Riot Within: My Journey From Rebellion to Redemption,' on April 30, 2012 in Los Angeles, California. King is best known as the victim of a brutal police beating that took place in Los Angeles. It’s been 20 years since the Rodney King verdict that sparked infamous L.A. Riots. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)

Many of us remember Rodney King when he first gained notoriety in 1991 as a victim of a beating by LA police officers which set off a huge race riot after the officers were acquitted.  The beating was caught on tape and aired all across the nation. He was in the public eye off and on battling a well known drug and alcohol addiction and was a patient on the wildly popular show Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew.  In an interview King was reported to have stated "your disease will creep up on you.."

King's fiance Cynthia Kelley stated that King had been drinking and smoking weed all the previous day prior to her  discovering  his naked  body in the swimming pool  of their Rialto home. Kelley stated that she had gone to bed at around 2 am and was abruptly awakened by King screaming in their backyard and beating on the glass of their home.  After asking King what was wrong, Kelley reported that shortly after she heard a splash in the backyard. It was then that she went to investigate, that she found King at the bottom of the pool.
Rehab is not a permanent solution, it is the beginning of a solution.  Many addicts have to stay active in their recovery and never take their sobriety for granted.
An autopsy is scheduled to take place on King Monday. This is an unfortunate end to a person that obviously faced many struggles in life only to succumb to them in this most tragic of ways.

Could your depressed teen turn to drugs?

A NIDA educational pamphlet. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
If you have a teenager that is struggling with depression, be forewarned there is a good chance your teen could seek drug use as a means to self medicate. While some parents may believe alcohol consumption and drugs are a rite of passage for many teenagers, those teens that suffer from mental distress are more likely to become addicted to alcohol and mood altering drugs. Once these drugs are used there is a great risk of a lifelong addiction.

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" is an old saying that rings true with depression, teens and drug use. If you notice that your teen is showing signs of depression the sooner you get them treated by a qualified medical professional the better your chances will be at steering your teen away from drug abuse and a lifelong drug dependency on alcohol and other drugs.

Become educated with the reality of depression and do not assume your teens prolonged depression is something your teen can just "snap out of." Clinical Depression is an illness of the brain that is measurable and usually the result of factors like heredity, chemical imbalances and childhood trauma.