When Lindsay Lohan entered the Betty Ford Center, as part of a court ordered rehabilitation programme, it was her second time as a visitor, and her si...

Everyday I speak to someone who feels hopelessly addicted - whether they are drunk or sober - and every time the word they use is the same: relapse. The fear of slipping backwards. Returning to where they started. And it can't happen. It's not real.

We've got it all backwards. Horribly backwards. And its killing us. This awful catch 22 situation. If we wait to admit and accept we have a drinking problem in our society? We are waiting for end-stage alcoholism. Or alcoholic Alzheimer's. Or being arrested. Or being injured horribly.

I have just finished reading Ban Ki-moon's address to the residents of San Patrignano. On Wednesday the Secretary - General of the United Nations visited the drug rehabilitation community in Italy and in his address he mentions two residents that I am proud to call my friends - Mike and Damir.

I consider myself one of the luckiest people in the world. I was rescued by the amazing, highly qualified London Air Ambulance Service, who arrived on the scene within just seven minutes. And, it's thanks to them that I'm still alive.

Russell Brand, the notorious actor and comedian, recently published an article that gives the most penetrating insight into the struggles of a heroin ...

My nan is all kinds of great. She is strong. She had six kids in nine years. She worked. Raised a big family on very little. She's seen a lot of life and she never judges anyone. But there are some problems outside her realm of experiences these days. So as much as my nan remains my favourite person, she's not always the most relevant. Oldest is not always best.

I don't frighten easily. I lived in a constant state of fear for so many years that it takes a lot to reignite it and take me to that dark place now. But when I see people using end-stage alcoholics to measure their own drinking against? It frightens me. When I see the media latch onto one person, the exception to the rule that has been able to subject their body to horrendous amounts of alcohol abuse and still just about function? It frightens me. Alcoholism is not a p*ssing contest. There is no glory to be had in being further up the sliding scale than these individuals.

I gave up alcohol as a New Year's Resolution at the end of 2006. Since then I haven't had a drop (actually that's not true, I did sip a gin and wine punch last weekend at a party and it was amazing). But it has been easy to 'stay stopped' and I never saw the point of starting drinking again.

If company managers are looking for ways to increase efficiency, not to mention health and safety, they should look at the impact of drug and alcohol abuse on their workforce.

Let's admit it: if someone, before last Tuesday, had told me that the most delightful pizza of my life would be created by the brainstorming of English chefs and former drug addicts, I probably never would have believed them.

We got talking about a community that Danny had just visited in Italy called San Patrignano. It is arguably the world's best drug rehabilitation centre for young people, with a huge success rate of 72%.

While Britain shivered in autumn showers over the weekend, I was lucky enough to fly to Italy to attend the youth drug prevention event WeFree event at San Patrignano near Rimini, one of the world's most proclaimed and revered drug rehabilitation units.

Many people sneer at the idea that addiction is a disease. "Surely so-and-so can just stop drinking" they say about alcoholics, unaware that an alcoholic can't control his craving for more drink -- just as a cancer or diabetes patient can't control the progression of his disease. Anyone who knows an alcoholic, or a hard core drug addict, will know that many of them desperately want to give up but are unable to.

A strained ankle or tendonopathy can be very painful and annoying to many people who train. It is particularly common in runners and footballers who a...

I'm not a fan of rebuttals, they can often be interpreted as rude or standoffish. This is certainly not the flavour of my reply, and so with this amp...

When I was a student I thought cannabis was a harmless pastime, no worse than alcohol, and I was encouraged by the fact that it's not addictive. Many years later I ended up working for an addiction rehab clinic in Scotland where I found out that not only is cannabis addictive but the skunk version of the drug is known to send as many as 20% of users into a psychotic state.