Addiction doesn’t discriminate, age, gender, social status or income bracket, anyone can be affected. This statement rung true with the most recent death of Matthew Melon, Cryptocurrency owner and banking heir. Matthew died suddenly at his hotel hours before he was due to check in at the Clear Sky Recovery Center in Cancun, Mexico. Melon was just 54 years old and left behind his two daughters, Araminta and Olympia and son, Force.
Matthew Melon was famously known for being the grandchild of Thomas Mellon, who founded the T. Mellon & Son’s bank during the post civil war era, now called the Bank of New York Mellon Corporation. Mellon’s father committed suicide just before his son was set to graduate. Previously unbeknown to him, When Matthew turned 21 he inherited a $25 million dollar, one of 14 trusts set up for him from his family. His mother once told him that their family did not stem from the wealthy side of the Mellons’ in hopes of keeping him humble and down to earth. He publicly recalled a sense of unpreparedness to the large fortune given to him at such a young age.
His first wife Tamara Mellon wrote in her autobiography In My Shoes in 2013 that Matthew’s first rehab stint occurred while he was still in college, and that he had inherited his father’s Bipolar disorder. She also spoke about his cocaine addiction he suffered from while they were married the decade earlier.
“Matthew had so many talents and admirable qualities – it’s unfortunate that emotional stability was not among them,
Once we were back in London, life did not become any easier. I was in the office every day, working hard, and Matthew had nothing but free time on his hands – and I’d come home and find him freebasing cocaine in the kitchen.
Then his addiction would take over and he might step out to buy a paper and not come back for days. I was constantly trying to track him down, calling family members, calling car services, knowing that he was capable of turning up anywhere in the world.
He would check into hotels, start getting the paranoid delusions of cocaine psychosis, then leave without paying his bill. And then, of course, the hotel managers would call me to clean up after him and settle his accounts.”
Mellon’s addiction to prescription painkillers stemmed from a surfing injury which led to a dark path. He reported spending $100,000 a month on his habit and taking 80 pills a day during his most heavy usage time. He slammed doctors for being so loose with their prescription pads, saying
“The doctors kept writing prescriptions like they were Smarties. It’s very irresponsible,” he told The New York Post. “OxyContin is like legal heroin.”
Mellon had always been public about his addiction struggles, and even boasted about his experience in addiction treatment centers, saying he could write a book about the various treatment centers he’d attended. He had a reputation for being a very generous man, and just 18 months ago had posted a picture of himself on a dock outside the center, with the caption “Let me know if you ever hit a wall and you need help,” he told his Instagram followers. “I will send you here for free on me!”
At the time of Mellon’s death, he was reportedly 88 days clean, but had relapsed in the past week. That relapse pushed him to take the trip to Clear Sky’s Recovery Center for ‘maintence’ to help maintain his sobriety. It was first reported that his death occurred at the center, but was later cleared up by his families’ representative, stating that he died suddenly in Cancun Mexico where he was planning to check into a rehab facility for follow up treatment.
The facility specializes in drug addiction treatment using Ibogain, a psychedelic plant-based drug that is not approved for any medical uses in the United States.
The Clear Sky Recovery’s website talks about the poweful drug saying: ‘Ibogaine provides a gentle, painless, and very rapid detox from opioids such a heroin, methadone, OxyContin, Suboxone & Subutex; stimulants like cocaine, crack and methamphetamine, as well as alcohol and many other addictive drugs.
‘Ibogaine works differently than other drug treatments, it resets receptors in the brain and normalizes brain function. Ibogaine’s metabolite noribogaine decreases or eliminates cravings and removes the overwhelming compulsion to use drugs of abuse, for approximately 2-4 months following ibogaine treatment.
‘Patients who are physically dependent on heroin, morphine, hydrocodone, oxycodone, methadone, or any other opioid drugs, will receive regular doses of morphine to avoid withdrawal symptoms. You will not be dopesick or going through withdrawal. We will keep you comfortable prior to being treated with ibogaine’.
Matthew Melon had been using Ibogain in various stages of his treatment in the past and a 2010 biography of his fomer lover the late Isabella Blow, who committed suicide in 2007, talked about how he had once raised $10 million dollars for the research of Ibogain.
Early and unconfirmed reports told that Mellon died after he took another experimental hallucinogenic drink named Ayahuasca and died from a heart attack after taking it.
Earlier in the year Mellon’s cryptocurrency XPR was worth a reported $1 Billion but has since fallen as the value of cryptocurrencies has plunged in recent months.
Source : The Recover Newsroom