Uncovering Hollywood's drug trap

Melanie Griffith: Made no secret of her Vicodin addiction

The BBC's entertainment reporter Robert Nisbet reports from LA where the painkiller Vicodin is legal and openly abused by some of Hollywood's biggest stars.

The results of his investigation, Beverly Pills, are being broadcast on BBC Choice on Friday night.

Disposable cameras point and shoot a small slab of sidewalk outside the Viper Rooms club on Sunset Boulevard.

An asphalt shrine where the actor River Phoenix collapsed and died after ingesting a cocktail of illegal drugs.

Another fallen idol, another puncture mark in Hollywood's history of substance abuse.

Heroine and cocaine have been common place in the film industry for as long as cameras have been rolling.

River Phoenix's death shocked but changed nothing

Liquid News travelled to Los Angeles to investigate claims that another drug has been added to the list.

It is one you don't have to chop, inhale, inject or smoke. You don't even have to buy it from a street corner dealer, all you need is a prescription.

It's a legal painkiller called Vicodin, and the number of people addicted to the so-called "happy pill" is growing.

What struck me in Los Angeles was the willingness of people within the film industry to admit they took "vikes".

As the medication is in millions of bathroom cabinets across America, it seems to carry very little stigma.

Matthew Perry stopped film production to go to rehab

One writer compared popping the pill to sipping a cocktail: "a simple way to take the edges off the day".

Melanie Griffith and Matthew Perry have also publicly discussed their addiction to Vicodin. If it had been heroin, would they have been so vocal?

But executives at the Hollywood studios hark back to the silent era. We were allowed to film on a studio lot only if we promised to not to reveal where we were, while our requests for interviews were gently declined.

But Vicodin addiction can certainly kick them in the bottom line. Filming on the comedy Servicing Sara had to be suspended so Matthew Perry could be admitted to a rehab centre.

With profits threatened, some productions have hired sobriety coaches to help them keep their on-screen talent upright and functioning.

Not an easy task when any sunglass sporting Hollywood type can leap into a convertible and break for the border.

We drove to Tijuana in Mexico, a few hours from LA, where every second shop seems to be a "pharmacy".

Inside each is an array of full-strength medication which you can buy without a prescription.

I walked into one and purchased a handful of Vicodin at £4 a pill. Perfectly legal in Mexico, but totally illegal if you were to take your stash back into the US - although that's what we were told thousands of Angelenos do every year.

Detox

Back in Hollywood we also saw the human cost of Vicodin addiction.

We took an exclusive peek inside the Malibu Promises rehab centre (a snip at £20,0000 a month).

There we watched a rapid detox programme where Vicodin addicts can have the drug flushed out of their bodies in six hours.

But the most lasting image was that of former Warhol acolyte and drag queen Holly Woodlawn taking a pill and losing coherence soon after: a graphic depiction of the drug's power.

But Vicodin could already be out of date. There's a new painkiller 10 times stronger called Oxycontin which is already readily available in Hollywood.

As we flew back to Britain, we wondered whether this new super-strength medication could become the drug of choice for the next generation of junkies-in-waiting.

Beverly Pills will be broadcast at 2030 BST on 10 August on BBC Choice.