As many of you may have heard Howard K. Stern was convicted on charges of fraud and falsely obtaining prescription drugs, leading to the overdose death of Anna Nicole Smith. This conviction is a bit bittersweet for many of us in the legal community. While she was clearly enabled and given drugs by compliant doctors, psychiatrists and friends, Ms. Smith was also CLEARLY an addict and, by all accounts, despite having a new baby at home, suicidal. As most of you know, Ms. Smith's son Daniel died pf what was ruled an accidental drug overdose in her hospital room while visiting his mother just days after she gave birth to her daughter. Despite the fact that she too was an addict, Ms. Smith could not get over the tragedy of her son's death and, many feel, died along with him that day, attempting suicide several times before her actual death less than 6 months later. While I feel that Howard K. Stern is clearly at fault for assisting an addict to illegally obtain drugs, the entire situation is tragic, leaving a beautiful baby girl without the mother that clearly wanted her so badly and the benefit of the big brother that was photographed beaming with pride while holding his only sibling hours before his death. If anything can come from this tragedy, it is the hope that people understand the dangers of drugs, whether they be street drugs or prescription. From marijuana to cocaine and from Xanax to Dilaudid, drugs are dangerous and lead to nowhere other than prison or, in many cases like that of Ms. Smith and her son...to an early grave.
