The Smiley Smile Message Board

I mean like a version of Landy who wasn't a total prick but actually was geared to helping him overcome the drugs, booze and demons.

Dennis was scheduled to enter treatment before he died. It is tragedy that he  did not keep the appointment.

Sure he was; But unless it would have been a captive type " Landyish" situational therapy, I doubt it would have helped.
Dennis needed major help to overcome the issues as they appeared.
Could he have stayed in a lockdown, and would he have been able to handle a straight world?

I thought he had already walked out of one detox earlier that month (Stebbins discusses it IIRC)

Another potential problem I am guessing is that he seemed to have many friends who too had drug issues, so he'd probably have had to ditch a significant swath of his social circle. Outside of his dysfunctional family, did he have much of a sober (or at least relatively sober) group of folks to fall back on for emotional support?

I suppose the same problem must have plagued Brian...

I'm no expert, but as I've always understood it in general addicts don't get better until they hit rock bottom.  Dennis unfortunately likely would have never hit 'rock bottom' because his wealth and fame would have insured that he always had enablers and supporters around him. 

I've got a Bachelor's degree in psychology, not that that means much, but it's also my opinion that in general people don't get better unless they want to, therapy is great to help people who want help.  If you're in the middle of an addiction though all you want is your addiction, you don't want the pain of being without it. 

Unfortunately for him and us, Dennis just wasn't ready to get help yet.  I'm sure plenty of people tried but how do you make a guy who's wealthy, and has an endless supply of fans and hanger-ons who would all help him continue being an addict?  Very very tough.

We're incredibly fortunate that Brian wasn't taken from us way back then for the same reasons.  Landy was an asshole but hook or crook he kept Brian alive until he met Melinda.  God bless Marilyn too, the world will probably never know the things she did to keep Brian with us. 

The first thing Dennis needed was a medically supervised detox. Then an intensive  incare treatment program that he could not sign himself out of.

Amen!

What might have saved Dennis was if he was busted for some infraction and sent to jail for a year or two...
At least then he would have hopefully gotten the worst of the drugs out of his system.. (I've heard Heroin is the worst, for lingering on and on)

Could be true - jail seemed to be the only thing to get David Crosby to clean up.

I guess it kind of depends on what the worst part of his addiction was. By 1983, was his alcoholism worse than his drug addiction? Or the other way around?

What year/s did Dennis start having major problems with drink and drugs?

I think the first "red flag" was in 1971(I think?), when he hurt his hand and couldn't play drums. Going through the In Concert book, there seems to have been a slow, but steady, increase of "bad behavior" on stage from 1971 to 1976, and for some reason the real problems started in 1977 and quickly went downhill from there.

I think the major thing that Dennis needed to do was make peace, somehow, some way, with Murry. It seemed like they were making an effort in Murry's final days, but they never made it before Murry died. And Dennis, like Brian, skipped the funeral.

Of course, by 1983 (and probably a couple of years earlier), he would have needed a major detox first, but once he got clean, he would have needed to come to grips with Murry to STAY clean.

Robert Downey, Jr. was saved because a judge sent him to a lockdown treatment center.  He could not leave or he would have been sent to jail.  Something like that might have saved his life.