The question is conspicuous by its absence.

Someone needs to ask the question– Why does this keep happening?

Why does great talent keep killing itself with drugs?

Phillip Seymour Hoffman is only the latest.

Is it the kind of person drawn to the performance arts?

Is it the pressure to be loved and admired?

Is it ingrained in the culture of Hollywood?

Is this the very nature of the beast?

Heath Ledger was a terrible waste. So were Janis Joplin and Jimmy Hendrix and… good god, so many others it’s impossible to name them all.

And we, as a society,...