DR DREW PRODUCTIONS ANNOUNCED

Dr. Drew Pinsky Announces Formation of Dr. Drew Productions

LOS ANGELES, April 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Dr. Drew Pinsky announced today the formation of Dr. Drew Productions, which will be based in Los Angeles and focus on high-quality reality television projects featuring Dr. Drew as well as other talent. Pinsky will partner with long-time manager Howard Lapides on this project. Lapides will be the managing partner.

"All projects under the new banner will expand on the Dr. Drew brand of always making a difference," said Howard Lapides.

The first project from the company is a pilot  "Estranged with Dr. Drew" where couples decide if they want to reunite or separate.  The project is being produced in conjunction with Picture This Television based in New York.

On television, Dr. Drew is best know for the "Celebrity Rehab" franchise on VH1, which is now in production on its fourth season and includes the spin-offs "Sober House with Dr. Drew" and "Sex Rehab with Dr. Drew."  He also hosts MTV's "Sex…With Mom and Dad." 

Dr. Drew is currently in development with Telepictures targeting a fall 2011 premiere. Howard Lapides has been named Co-executive producer on this show.

Dr. Drew is host of the nationally syndicated radio show "Loveline."  Dr. Drew is an internist who is board-certified in addiction medicine, still runs a private practice, and is Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the Keck USC School of Medicine.  He is the author of the New York Times bestseller The Mirror Effect:  How Celebrity Narcissism is Seducing America andCRACKED:  Putting Broken Lives Together Again.  Among his numerous awards, Dr. Drew was honored with the 2008 Larry Stewart Leadership and Inspiration Award at the 12th Annual PRISM Awards. He is a regular guest on CNN's Larry King Live, which he has hosted many times, and is a contributor to The Today Show and most other media outlets.  To combat teen abuse of prescription drugs, Dr. Drew developed the RXLocker, a simple locking case to safely store prescription drugs.  www.drdrew.com

Howard Lapides, co-CEO of the Core, and President of the TV and Motion Picture division of Lapides/Lear Entertainment, manages writers/producers, talk show hosts, authors, comedians, and actors.  Lapides is the executive producer of VH1's "Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew" and "Sober House with Dr. Drew." Lapides served as an Executive Producer for Comedy Central's "The Man Show" and was also an Executive Producer of "Loveline" for MTV.  Lapides worked closely with MTV developing TRL for client Carson Daly and produced Tom Green's feature directorial debut, Freddy Got Fingered for New Regency Pictures and Twentieth Century Fox. He also executive produced Stealing Harvard with Brian Grazer of Imagine Entertainment. He has been nominated for two Cable Ace Awards numerous Gemini Awards in Canada.

Contact: Valerie Allen PR
310-264-1888
Valerie@ValerieAllenPR.com

SOURCE Dr. Drew Productions

DR. DREW: IF I WERE LINDSAY'S FATHER I WOULD GO TO ANY LENGTHS TO GET HER INTO TREATMENT

I have been working in the field of addiction for over twenty years and I continue to be mystified by many of the misconceptions surrounding this most common disorder.  Addiction is a deadly disease.  It is a brain disease that alters the brain’s fundamental motivational drives such that thoughts, judgment and volition become severely distorted and actually serve the abnormal motivational priority of getting and using more drugs.  Untreated severe addiction is more likely to kill a patient suffering with the condition than most cancers.  Treated Breast Cancers, Prostate Cancer, most Lymphomas, and the vast majority of skin cancers, have a better prognosis than a treated addict.  And yet addiction is the only disease I have to convince a patient that they have and more importantly convince the patient that without treatment his or her life is in danger.  Getting families to understand this is often even more difficult. For those of us that are parents, every instinct we have is often precisely anathema to the interventions we should be taking when our children become addicted. 

I was at dinner with my own children some months ago and we were discussing addiction and I explained to them that as a result of my experience treating addicts, I wanted them to know that I would go to any lengths to combat this disease should one of them ever fall victim.  I reminded them that I spend my days trying to resurrect lives that have been devastated by this disease, devastation that might have been avoided had someone been sufficiently clear to have gone to the mat for this patient when they were younger and earlier in their disease. Family members have to be willing to go to any lengths and unfortunately this often means bringing about circumstances that restrict that individual’s freedom. As the parent of an addict you must be prepared to bring consequences to bear.  I am talking about painful interventions that save lives.

I am not naïve about the treatment of addiction and I know well that some times any and all interventions are in vain.  There are those professional who would argue that abstinence based interventions are unrealistic for severe addicts and physicians should pursue replacement or so called harm reduction therapies.  But when I was asked as a father, if I were in Michael Lohan’s position, what would I do to help my daughter, I am clear that I would go to any lengths to get her to and retain her in treatment.  Bringing legal consequences to bear is often the only alternative. It would kill me but I would do it. Perhaps I surrendered my equanimity to a flight of journalistic excess by even suggesting that he plant drugs.  But if I was in his position and I knew she was addicted (which I personally do not) and all else had failed, I suspect I would contemplate even this as a last resort. 

Let me be clear I am not suggesting this as a routine intervention but we frequently enlist law enforcement when we have exhausted other measures. To those of you who reacted in outrage when I made this suggestion, I will remind you that millions of you watched the first season of Sober House when as difficult as it was for her, the house manager, Jennifer Gimenez, summoned police to contain Steven Adler.  We then advocated for long-term treatment as an alternative to imprisonment; an enlightened judge granted this, and today as a result Steven is sober and thriving.  Were it not for this intervention, as miserable as it was for Steven, I believe he would have or soon succumbed to his addiction. 

I have participated in similar interventions many many times and it saves lives. Judges will grant treatment and this can be a very effective means to keep patients engaged in extended care.  In my experience the outcomes can be quite good.   I do not know Lindsay Lohan but I sincerely wish her the best.  She has had excellent treatment in the past at outstanding treatment programs.  I hope one day she returns to her recovery as I believe she will one day thrive, provided that this disease does not first bring some horrible consequences down upon her.  As a father my heart goes out to Michael Lohan who deeply appreciates the dangers of this condition and (if she is in fact active in her disease) lives every day in the shadow of his daughter’s potential demise. 

Drew Pinsky, M.D.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-drew-pinsky/if-i-were-lindsay-lohans_b_541648.html