Launched in 2013, the harris project is a nonprofit dedicated to the prevention and treatment of co-occurring disorders (COD) — the combination 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 focusing on the stories of celebrities who struggled with COD. Here, we’re revisiting our past coverage of some of those stars.
This story ran on usmagazine.com on January 22, 2020:
ORIGINAL STORY: Rapper Juice Wrld’s Cause of Death Has Been Revealed Nearly 2 Months After the Musician Suffered a Seizure
[Read the full original story.]
NEW STORY: Rapper Juice Wrld’s Cause of 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 result of an accidental overdose involving oxycodone and codeine. Throughout his brief but celebrated career, 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, known 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 know 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 probably 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 about the stigma often associated with mental health issues, specifically among Black people. “Speaking [as] an African-American man, I know that that stuff is neglected in our community,” he said. “You tell your momma, your daddy, your auntie, whoever that you feel like [you] get anxiety, you feel like you have depression, you feel like you got ADD, whatever, they’re gonna look at you like you’re crazy… That’s not how it should be, but that’s how it is. And that needs to change. I feel like I’m one of those people that can bring that change, or at least start a chain reaction for somebody else to come and do it after me.”
He Wanted to Get Better
The rapper began using Xanax heavily in high school but spoke of limiting his drug use in the years before his death. “I smoke weed, and every now and then I slip up and do something that’s poor judgment,” he told The New York Times in July 2018. “I have a lot going for me, I recognize it’s a lot of big things, a lot of big looks. I want to be there, and you don’t have to overdose to not be there.”
To purchase The Missing Issue for $8.99 go to https://magazineshop.us/harrisproject.
If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health and/or substance use, you 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) can help reverse an opioid overdose.
