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We're generally supportive of our own profession, journalism, but sometimes the media goes a little over the top.

The coverage of Whitney Houston's unfortunate death is one of those times. Sure she was a phenomenal artist with a spine-chilling voice and many memorable songs. Sure her death was tragic and premature. Sure she deserves to be remembered.

But do we really care who is on the guest list for her funeral or whether her daughter got high after the star was laid to rest? Leave the surviving family alone already!

Some local Facebookers have commented on the excesses of media attention lavished on Whitney's compared to the relative lack of media recognition for the troops who died in action in Iraq and Afghanistan.

We definitely see their point and it's well taken.

But there's one thing we are glad the media has highlighted in the wake of Houston's death: its possible cause.

Reports indicate that she may have been the victim of mixing prescription drugs and alcohol. That's a painful subject hitting close to home.

In this community and many others, families have lost loved ones from this or other wrongful of prescription drugs. Recently passed celebrities such as Houston, Michael Jackson, Heath Ledger and Amy Winehouse are not alone.

This phenomenon is known as Combined Drug Intoxication, Multiple Drug Intake or Lethal Polypharmacy Intoxication. It can result from the mixture of any kind of legal, illegal, herbal or recreational drugs whether combined with alcohol or not.

Deaths from CDI have soared and not just among celebrities .

The medical journal Archives of Internal Medicine studied 50 million death certificates and found that only 1,132 deaths from medication mistakes at him occurred in 1983. By 2004, that number had risen to more than 12,000 and continued to go up after that.

"The amount of medical supervision is going down and the responsibility placed on the patient's shoulders is going up," according to the lead author of the report.

The researchers blamed this shift in responsibility on the home use of prescription painkillers and other potent drugs that were only available at hospitals before. That doesn't even mention the availability of illegal or illegally prescribed drugs.

Let's face it. Whether the individual is a high-powered star or an average family member facing a stressful life or a painful medical condition, there's a tendency to self medicate with readily available and prescribed drugs: a pill for one ill whose side effects need to be offset by another pill and so on.

Many individuals take pills to sleep better or sleep at all and because alcohol is also a sleep-inducing (toxic) depressant, they might drink under the mistaken belief that the two go well together or enhance one another.

But most have no idea how the different chemicals interact. The drug companies have a responsibility to warn of possible side effects and to pull drugs that show a disproportionate number of mishaps, particularly is patients with a predisposition.

Naturally, they can't spell out how their pills might clash or interact with every compound known to man.

It's the responsibility of the "patient" and their family to follow the medical advice that comes along with the prescriptions, most of which clearly warn against the use of alcohol while on the medication.

And just like friends don't let friends drink and drive, friends shouldn't let friends drug and drink if they can help prevent it.

But better yet, many ailments or conditions can be addressed by a change in lifestyle. Drinking, for instance, can start its own cycle of sleeplessness. Sure, it relaxes initially, but in quantities of more than one or two glasses, the alcohol is sure to increase one's heart rate, awake the consumer and begin a pattern of restlessness that often leads to more self medication.

Instead of seeking strength from a dubious external source, look for an inner strength to avoid risky patterns. Change your diet, change your lifestyle and if you still need medication, use only as directed.