As I was scanning news sites this week, I saw where coroners officially confirmed Whitney Houston’s death was caused by an accidental drowning and that heart disease and cocaine use also played a role in her death.

With her troubled past riddled with reports of drug abuse, I’m sure this news comes as no surprise to most people, including me.

But as I read the news, I couldn’t help but be saddened that the life of such an iconic woman with such talent was cut unnecessarily short because of drugs.

I can remember singing Whitney Houston songs when I was younger. I would crank up the music and belt the songs right along with her “Greatest Hits” CD. I thought she was such a great singer and continued to think so for many years.

But like many people in “the business,” drugs got the best of Whitney Houston. The drugs came in like a thief in the night, stealing her reputation, her credibility, her beautiful voice and her stellar career.

The reality is, however, that drugs are nondiscriminatory. They don’t care what race you are, what your gender is, who your parents are, what your religion is, what you think about politics or what kind of car you drive.

Drugs don’t care if you are white collar, blue collar, or have no collar at all. They don’t care if you are rich and famous or a relative nobody.

I have seen the affects of drug abuse almost daily for the past six years with my former job and my current job.

Each time I write an arrest story where the people have committed a drug-related crime, I think about what a terrible waste it is for these people who could have productive, full lives to be reduced to nothing because of their addictions.

I thankfully don’t have any personal experience when it comes to drug addiction or abuse, and I don’t claim to be an expert when it comes to handling the problem.

I can’t even imagine how hard it would be to go through and how hard it would be on loved ones to deal with.

This is why I was glad to hear about the newly formed Franklin County Drug Unit.

When Sheriff Shannon Oliver first told me about it, I was glad to see that there would be law enforcement officials in the area who were going to devote their time to trying to rectify the drug problem we personally have here in Franklin County.

An arrest may just be what someone needs to wake up and realize they have a problem and they need to fix it, not just for themselves but for those that care about them, too.

It is good that we have law enforcement officials here who are concerned about the problem and want to fix it because, like I said, drug use can affect anyone at anytime.

It can destroy a life in a minute and with so many other things going on in today’s world, drug use shouldn’t be something we have to worry about every day.