Addiction and Recovery

Sunday Fun-day: Five Great Reasons to Allow Liquor Stores to Sell Booze on the Sabbath

Local Texas state rep Senfronia Thompson has introduced a bill that would allow liquor stores to open on Sunday, something they have not been able to do in my lifetime thanks to "blue" laws that prevent certain businesses from operating on Sunday. In fact, I remember when virtually all stores were f ... More >>

Does Toby Keith Need an Intervention? His Top 5 Drinking Songs

Rocks Off was excited to hear that Toby Keith is scheduled to make an appearance at next year's RodeoHouston. We just hope he makes it here. Rewind: Saturday Night: Toby Keith at The Woodlands You see, we're starting to worry a little about Toby Keith's health. Not about the health of his career ... More >>

HoustonPBS Community Cinema: Soul Food Junkies

Jeff Bagwell's Nightmare With Hand Doctor Michael Brown Gets Worse

Houston Astro legend Jeff Bagwell continues to pay the price for getting involved with the weird, sleazy, black hole that is the court odyssey of TV-ad star hand doctor Michael Brown. Brown has had a series of cases in criminal and divorce court, and vague allegations that Bagwell -- who's been goi ... More >>

Combat Veterans Fall Prey to Gambling Addictions at an Alarming Rate

where's the military when the chips are down?

An Awesome Houston Oiler Public Service Announcement

Granted, there's plenty to be entertained by in this collection of early-`70s TV ads. If you don't love the huge land-yacht 1973 Lincoln-Mercurys, which look big enough to land helicopters on, you're bound to like the "small" version which retains all the luxury in a more efficient body (that nevert ... More >>

Derek Boogaard Died by Accidental Overdose of Alcohol and Oxycodone

Derek Boogaard: accidental OD​Derek Boogaard, the former Houston Aero fan favorite who was found dead in his Minneapolis apartment May 13, died from having too much alcohol and oxycodone in his system, according the medical examiner's report released today. The Minnesota Star Tribune reports ... More >>

Shock the Junkie

Is ibogaine really an addict cure-all?

Top Five Teen-Idol Rehab Alumni

​Checking into rehab is no laughing matter. That said, we at Rocks Off often find inspiration in even the darkest of corners. So when it was announced, much to our surprise, that Dallas-born teen pop starlet Demi Lovato had checked into rehab an inpatient treatment center, we pondered celebri ... More >>

Music's Top 10 Biggest Post-Drug Comebacks

​The list of drug casualties in rock and roll is a long and sad one. All the suicides, car crashes and the stray gang-related murder are outweighed by the amount of people who just can't stop putting junk into their system, or at least moderate it to a point where they aren't lying cold on a h ... More >>

Cowboy Junkies' Poetic Restraint at House Of Blues

Flickr photo by adambowie​Everybody knows that good news always sleeps til noon. -- "Sun Comes Up, It's Tuesday Morning" There was a palpable tingle of anticipation in the joint as we waited for the curtain to go up on the Cowboy Junkies' first gig in Houston in a coon's age Tuesday at House ... More >>

To Live Is to Fly

Canada's Cowboy Junkies ­enter their 25th year louder and ­angrier than ever.

Detox Craze: Stupid or Sane?

​We can't turn on the TV or the radio without hearing about the latest detox craze. Just the other day, we heard Rod Ryan talk about how great the Blessed Herbs one-week cleanse was on his radio show. Trust us, we really don't need to hear about his cleanse in detail that early in the morning. ... More >>

The 30 Craziest People In Houston: An Official HPD List

Photo by Chris Curry Travis Bonser is one of Houston's 30 craziest people. Travis Bonser learned how to shoot heroin from his mother. It happened when he was 14, after his mom became too fat to tie her own arm or leave the house to pick up the dope from her dealer. It wasn't long before Bonser was ... More >>

Six More Mysterious Musical Deaths We'd Like to See Reopened

That's Brian Jones, who is still dead, in the lower right corner.​Original Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones was found dead at the bottom of his swimming pool 40 years ago. It was declared "death by misadventure," a cause of death that probably didn't come as a shock to those who had been aware ... More >>

Race and Baseball: The Stories of Josh Hamilton and Darryl Strawberry

ASK A MEXICAN

Mexican Dogs and Drunk Driving

Drunk Mexicans and Specious Etymologies

Naked Men: The ManKind Project and Michael Scinto

The organization was supposed to make him a better man. Instead, his parents say, it made him a dead one.

Another Dispatch from the Streets of Houston

Fit or Fat, Houston?

Cranked

Meth users are really proDuctive, sExy, hAppy anD slim

Innocent Lost

Melanie Wilson takes us through the Foggy world of drug addiction

Back in the Saddle

The Cowboy Junkies ride again

Letters

Letters

Prison Break?

Critics wonder if massive TDCJ cuts will be a prelude to privatization

Getting Off

Houston-based Sex Addicts Anonymous knows the lesson well: For those caught in the Bubble, lust has no limits

Living Large

A trendy clothing line for plus-size girls

Deal of a Lifetime

Drug addicts can get hard cash to be sterilized or go on birth control. Is it ridding the world of unwanted babies -- or just ducking the underlying problems of abusers?

Back in the Saddle

A former mayoral staffer resurfaces at the county

Con's Con

A contained experiment in Medicaid finally gets uncovered

Sick Kids

For many mentally ill teenagers in Texas, the only way to get treatment is to get arrested.

Nature of the Beast

Plastic surgeon Billy Ringer has been sued ten times for malpractice. He's on probation for sexual misconduct. He sewed a needle into Colleen Guidy. But he's still in business -- cutting, vacuuming, rearranging and, it seems, injuring patients.

Mission: Impossible?

SEARCH's mobile outreach team tries to help Houston's homeless off the streets

Skid Row Scholars

Recovering alcoholics find financial aid in a unique Texas Tech program

Methadone Meltdown

Dr. Amos and Cecilia Ozumba ran Houston Maintenance Clinic for four years. Have they finally run it into the ground?

Saving Baby Angela

An infant with two fractured ribs and bleeding on the brain. A teenage single mom with no high school diploma. Grandparents with a business to keep afloat. Can CPS find a stable home for Angela Delacourt?

Punk Drunks

Heal Thyself

Rapid detox leaves a nurse suffering unforeseen side effects

Legal Moves

Attorney John O'Quinn has checked into a substance-abuse center as he prepares for his disbarment suit

The Johnson Treatment

Council candidate presides over a rather unique substance abuse program

Holistic Touch

Some ex-patients credit the mind-body therapy of New Age healer JoAnne Mandel with saving their lives. Others say her compassion stopped at the bottom line.

Not the Same Old Junkies

A new label and energy return Canada's moaners to the spotlight

Woman Trouble

Black America is suffering, and author Robert Myers knows who to blame

Old-Fashioned Lust Songs

After two decades, AC/DC still stands for down and dirty fun

The Torments of Academia

According to a UH professor, his "perceived disability" is one

Female Trouble

Two offbeat films chronicle three offbeat young women's struggles

Letters

Drunk, But Not Disorderly

Meg Ryan battles the curse of cuteness