I'm going to stick my two penn'rth in here as an ex heroin and everything else abuser, and sympathy though I have for him, Wardy and Laurence are right, it's not an illness, it's his choice.
He chose to take drugs, ( like I did) and he's choosing now to play the "poor me" part ( like I did) and eventually hopefully he'll stand up for himself and to himself and actually make the CHOICE to stop taking drugs ( like I did).
I don't wish him dead and I don't think he corrupts kids (quite the reverse probably) and I don't think he deserves the adulation he gets because he's a mediocre performer and really no great talent, but he is a human being as worthy as the next person of my compassion, he's not a paedophile,murderer etc etc etc, just a daft lad so I prefer to keep his problems in perspective, he's damaging himself and no-one else and doesn't deserve to die for it.
I like, for the record:-
REM
Manic Street Preachers
Leonard Cohen
Cranberries
Athlete
Santana
Evanescence
Jose Gonzalez
Red Hot Chilli Peppers
Curved Air (for anyone old enough to remember them)