Doug Thorburn, addiction expert, addiction contrarian and author of the recently released Alcoholism: Myths and Realities: Removing the Stigma of Society's Most Destructive Disease, January-February 2010 Thorburn Addiction Report Runners Up for Story of the include analysis of Tiger Woods, corporate fraudster Tom Petters, disgraced financier who committed suicide Danny Pang and TV star Charlie Sheen. The ranges of activity include sex, gambling and drugs and drinking in combination with both of them. Tiger Woods fall from grace points to a long and concerted cover up by those around him, fellow golfers on tour and the governing body of the PGA, while the antics of Charlie Sheen form the tail end of a variety of bizarre behavior.

Read and learn through real life Runners Up for Stories of the Month from Doug Thorburn's January-February 2010 Thorburn Addiction Report, which can also be accessed at http://www.preventragedy.com

Eldrick Tont Tiger" Woods, involved in a 2 a.m. accident that seemed inexplicable, until the world learned of: (1) his serial adultery with more than a dozen women (sexually compulsive; borrowing the methodology from Drunks, Drugs & Debits, 50% odds of alcoholism), (2) the fact that he seems to have met most of these women in nightclubs and that most if not all of the women appear to be "party" girls (addicts often hang out with addicts; by itself probably 20%, but add 20% of the remaining 50%, or 10%; see "enablers of the month" below for the luscious details), (3) that with at least two of the women he not only didn't use condoms, but didn't even ask if the women were using birth control (signs of a sense of invincibility and unnecessarily reckless behaviors; 50% by itself, but, sticking to the methodology, add 50% of the remaining 40%, or 20%), (4) reported tantrums on the golf course (rage; by itself, 50%, but we can't go over 80% without proof of addictive use; so this simply provides more evidence that the odds of addiction are at least 80%), (5) a report that he "had been drinking alcohol" before the incident (evidence of addictive use when combined with a misbehavior such as possible DUI; we've now exceeded 80% odds), and (6) prescriptions to Ambien and Vicodin (which puts the odds of addiction at well over 90%). The fact that one of his mistresses reported he likes to have "Ambien sex" suggests he combines drugs, which with serial unethical behaviors ups the odds of psychotropic drug addiction and, therefore, an explanation (but emphatically not an excuse) for his extra-marital misbehaviors, to nearly 100%--or close enough to make runner-up for top story rather than merely "under watch" (whose denizens display behaviors suggesting 80% odds of addiction, but no greater due to the absence of proof of addictive use).

Businessman Terrance Watanabe, 52, filing a civil suit in Las Vegas' Clark County District Court against Harrah's casino in which he claimed the casino's staff routinely plied him with liquor and pain medication to keep him gambling. He lost nearly $127 million during a year-long gambling binge in 2007 at the Caesars Palace and Rio casinos, $14.7 million of which was extended as credit and for which he was charged with four felony counts for non-payment in April. He says he shouldn't have to pay because Harrah's supposedly knew he had been barred from the Wynn casino due to "compulsive drinking and gambling." Watanabe, a major Omaha, Nebraska philanthropist and Democratic Party donor, would stay at tables in the Harrah casinos for as long as 24 hours at a stretch, losing as much as $5 million playing three blackjack hands at a time, each with $50,000 limits. He also played low-odds games including roulette and slots. While acknowledging he drank to excess, his lawyer, Pierce O'Donnell, says Watanabe "takes full responsibility for his condition at the time." Then I guess he'll pay up.

Businessman Tom Petters, 52, found guilty of perpetrating a $3.65 billion Ponzi scheme dating back at least a decade. His lavish lifestyle, which included mansions in several states, several Mercedes, a Bentley and a number of pricey boats, came crashing down only after longtime employee Deanna Coleman laid out the alleged fraud before the U.S. attorney in Minneapolis and agreed to wear a recording device. The tape recordings, one of which records Petters saying "This is one big [expletive] fraud," were key to the prosecutors' case. You can read more of the gritty details, including plenty of evidence for addiction as by far the best explanation for his horrific behaviors, in the May 2009 TAR Top Story entitled "White Collar Criminals, Like Other Crooks, are Usually Alcoholics." Petters was a major Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota philanthropist and Republican Party donor who, at last report, blames his several "trusted associates and friends" for perpetrating the fraud. ("Look at me, I'm a big shot and can afford to donate millions," is perhaps yet another clue to hidden alcoholism.)

Financier Danny Pang, who at the time of his death in September 2009 was battling allegations, first brought to light in a page-one Wall Street Journal article, of masterminding a massive international Ponzi scheme, ruled to have committed suicide with a cocktail of psychotropic drugs. These included oxycodone, hydrocodone and two "other" painkillers. The 30 additional undigested 10 mg. oxycodone pills found in his stomach were obvious overkill. His rather turbulent story is recounted in the May 2009 edition of TAR. The next time a suspected perpetrator is confined to his home under a bail agreement, authorities might want to check the medicine cabinet.

Former Birds ("Mr. Tambourine Man") and now Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood, 62, arrested on "suspicion of assault in connection with a domestic incident" (aka domestic violence). Woods was supposedly sober since the Rolling Stones' 2002-03 tour, but entered rehab in June 2006, was seen drinking with 20-something year-old Ekaterina Ivanova in July 2008, checked into rehab again in July 2008, moved out of the family home in October 2008 and filed for divorce from his wife of 24 years, Jo Karslake Wood. He was given an "Outstanding Contribution" award at the "Classic Rock Roll of Honour" ceremony in London in November 2009. Such are the ups and downs in the lives of alcoholics.

Johnson & Johnson heiress Casey Johnson, 30, found dead from "natural causes," but which we might assume will prove to be either a drug overdose or complications of diabetes due to consumption of psychoactive drugs (toxicology reports are pending). A familiar face on the Hollywood party scene, Johnson was charged with burglarizing a former girlfriend's home, allegedly taking $22,000 in clothing, jewelry, handbags and other items a month before her death. Such is the convoluted thinking of addicts: even one as wealthy as Casey needed to inflate her ego by wielding power in ways the rest of us would never dream.

Broadcom's former CEO Henry Nicholas lll, against whom narcotics trafficking charges have been dropped due to prosecutorial misconduct. The original grand jury indictment described Nicholas as a fast-living partyer who doled out "party favors" in the form of drugs to prostitutes and business associates. During a 2001 flight to Las Vegas on a private jet, Nicholas and his entourage were reported to have generated marijuana smoke in such quantity that it billowed into the cockpit, requiring the pilot to put on an oxygen mask. There was a series of tunnels and underground rooms at his Laguna Hills, California estate that allowed him to indulge in what the indictment termed his "manic obsession with prostitutes." Imagine how entertaining the illuminating the trial would have been.

Charlie Sheen, whose alleged cocaine binge with his estranged wife, Brooke Mueller, led to his arrest for allegedly attacking her with a knife and threatening to kill her, telling her, "If you tell anybody, I'll kill you." Unfortunately, in one of those "you cannot predict what an addict might do or when" scenes right out of a Stephen King horror novel, he was visiting Brooke and his twin 10-month-old babies. They've had serious problems, including reportedly violent battles, ever since one of the twins was born with a hole in his heart—Charlie blames Brooke for having relapsed during her pregnancy (he found a load of empty vodka bottles in her car) and Brooke blames Charlie for insisting that she undergo a type of in vitro fertilization that increases the odds of a certain sex in the child, which she blames for the genetic defect. Charlie flew to Aspen with his "sober minder" (whose job is to keep him off the hooch) after a failed intervention by his father Martin Sheen and brothers Emilio Estevez and Ramon Estevez, who feared trouble if he saw his wife. Perhaps the odds of long-term sobriety might be increased if Martin and family focused on having the children taken away from both parents. For the sake of continuing to air the very funny "Two and a Half Men," on which Charlie portrays an alcoholic, let's hope his private life becomes more boring.

Click Here to see the Thorburn Addiction Report Archives

TO COMMENT to the author, send your email via the website, http://www.preventragedy.com or write to Doug Thorburn, P.O. Box 7777, Northridge, CA 91327-7777

For media interviews contact Promotion in Motion at 323-461-3921 or brad@promotioninmotion.net