Launched in 2013, the harris project is a nonprofit dedicated to the prevention and treatment of co-occurring disorders (COD) — the mix of mental health challenges and substance use issues. Us Weekly has partnered with the harris project to bring you The Missing Issue, a special edition specializing in the stories of celebrities who struggled with COD. Here, we’re revisiting our past coverage of a few of those stars.
This story ran on usmagazine.com on January 22, 2020:
ORIGINAL STORY: Rapper Juice Wrld’s Explanation for Death Has Been Revealed Nearly 2 Months After the Musician Suffered a Seizure
[Read the full original story.]
NEW STORY: Rapper Juice Wrld’s Explanation for Death Revealed as Overdose Highlighting Realities of Co-Occurring Disorders
Jarad Anthony Higgins, a promising hip-hop artist who broke into the mainstream under the stage name Juice Wrld, died on Dec. 8, 2019, at age 21, the results of an accidental overdose involving oxycodone and codeine. Throughout his transient but celebrated profession, his lyrics laid bare his bouts with anxiety and depression — and provided a window into the link between his mental health struggles and drug use, referred to as co-occurring disorders.
His Lyrics Highlighted His Struggle to Cope
On tracks like “Anxiety,” Higgins rapped about co-occurring disorders: “Anxiety is bad for the soul / Pills and anxiety, they take control / Bad timing, stars aligning / Lost in my abyss, please, someone find me.” On “Lucid Dreams,” his breakout song, he said, “I take prescriptions to make me feel a-okay / I realize it’s all in my head.”
In a 2018 interview with No Jumper, he talked about how his drug use “opens doors to feel emotions you most likely wouldn’t feel,” but he cautioned: “[It] can destroy you — utterly destroy you.”
He Struggled With Cultural Stigma
In a 2019 Billboard interview, Higgins opened up concerning the stigma often related to mental health issues, specifically amongst Black people. “Speaking [as] an African-American man, I do know that that stuff is neglected in our community,” he said. “You tell your momma, your daddy, your auntie, whoever that you are feeling like [you] get anxiety, you are feeling like you will have depression, you are feeling such as you got ADD, whatever, they’re gonna have a look at you such as you’re crazy… That’s not the way it ought to be, but that’s the way it is. And that needs to alter. I feel like I’m one among those those who can bring that change, or at the least start a series response for any individual else to come back and do it after me.”
He Desired to Get Higher
The rapper began using Xanax heavily in highschool but spoke of limiting his drug use within the years before his death. “I smoke weed, and every so often I slip up and do something that’s poor judgment,” he told The Latest York Times in July 2018. “I actually have quite a bit going for me, I recognize it’s loads of big things, loads of big looks. I would like to be there, and also you don’t need to overdose to not be there.”
To buy The Missing Issue for $8.99 go to https://magazineshop.us/harrisproject.
In case you or someone you already know is scuffling with mental health and/or substance use, you usually are not alone. Seek immediate intervention — call 911 for medical attention; 988 for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline; or 1-800-662-HELP for the SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) National Helpline. Carrying naloxone (Narcan) will help reverse an opioid overdose.
