It's cruel to blame people for directly causing themselves such a cruel disease, especially when we know innocent babies, teens and adults who do not abuse drugs get cruel diseases.
I hope I can say this part without sounding critical. I've been surprised at how shocked people were at hearing he died and then how he died, given his extremes of high and low moods, and his known problems with substance abuse and addiction.
From what I saw of him over the decades, I'd often think "he's extremely manic". Then when he would make all those fantastic, crazy faces (some have a face that makes half their act), I thought his sad faces were not acting, but were his real face/mood. He often looked deeply depressed.
I hope his problems bring more awareness to bipolar (manic-depressive) disorder. Many people seem to have it to a certain degree, and when they're not exhibiting grossly and outrageously high and low behavior, it goes undiagnosed and treated. And it can be treated.
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