The only person who can stop Amy from dying of an OD, is Amy. And since she doesn't seem to be interested in that, neither should we be. Either way, it's irrelevant to me.

Exhaustion! LOL!

Larua, Hetfordshire, England

The Answer, a neo classic rock group from Ireland are the real winners here. They got a request to support the Rolling Stones in Amy's place.

Looks like fate wins again.

Max Trotter, Kingston upon Hull, UK

Sorry for them? Sorry for the crippled, the sick, poor children...

Well said - Alex from Guerriero, Oxford, England

Seriously, have you lot not got enough of your own worries that you have to think about boycotting Winehouse, download her for free and be done with it!!!

Bill, Bologna, Italy

She's a very ordinary singer, more famous for her excesses than her singing.

For every report about her concerts there's fifty about her personal habits, none of which concern me.

Now she's not doing anything, the reports are about various parents, again that isn't of interest.

What's all the fuss about??

Pu Li, Guangxi,

Why do the BBC spend licence payers money on reporting about these idiots?. These reports are nothing more than promotion, and these idiots get it for free, while normal people are paying for it through their licence fee's.

One minute I read mind blowing tradgedy like an 11 year old getting shot and the next minute I have to read "news" about drug abusing rock stars. Is this really "news" or or is simply disgused promotion of some lossers career.

Their music is totaly forgetable, all we ever hear is about their "lifestyle". Who the hell cares!!!, accept maybe niave teenagers who think it is cool to be like whomever they see in the press.

Alexis, Aalst, Belgium

It is depressing to see this brilliant young woman succumb to the emptiness of drugs. She is so very young and her talent brought her too much too soon. She isn't ready for what she has acquired. Her father says she and her husband will bottom out. Unfortunately, bottoming out can be lethal. I hope she gets well (addiction being an illness) and lives for many years to share her gifts.

Presently, she is a sad and pathetic young woman who does not understand just how dangerous her drug game is. Pity.

Irene, Toronto, Canada

Arrest her for possession, make her an example for younger people, jail her.

I like her music, but have zero sympathy for her..

Strip her of any awards...

Drugs are bad, they are not cool or hip. I admit they are a fact of life, but that does mean that something should be done about them.

Common the Met, lets see some arrests, there is sufficient evidence at least for possession of controlled substances

D, Bristol, Bristol

John from Durban: "The world is full of nice people who would die for such a chance at life"......what?

Nook, purley,

I am very sad for this young woman and her husband and I hope that - no matter the route - they find their way to living a good, happy life. I also fervently hope that their parents are spared the misery of losing children to drugs or suicide.

That said, many of the comments here left me aghast. The selfishness and callous disregard for other peoples' problems are appalling. Who cares? I do - as I would for anyone in the grip of such a monstrous problem.

John Blackley, Austin, TX, USA

I have to say, I really like Amy Winehouse. I liked her back before she was the pinot-grigio-drinking, upper-middle-class housewives' vocalist of choice. I used to think she genuinely had a lot of talent, an interesting brand of urban jazz.

The last few months of press coverage have, for some reason, gripped me. Not one to normally immerse myself in sensationalist reports, I have followed her supposed 'downfall' carefully. The tragic aspect of her last year has added a dimension of fascination that, without sounding pretentious, I thought was below me in the common "who cares what they're up to- I've got bigger fish to fry" way.

Blake's (first name terms due to daily exposure to him, you see) parents may think that the record company ought to act in order to save her. This is capitalism, not secondary school. Amy Winehouse is her own person, and if she chooses to squander her talent and fall victim of society's morbid thirst for "build em up, tear em down", then it's up to her.

Michael Albert Brown, Bogotá, Colombia

Well, I care. Amy Winehouse is a first class talent who is clearly battling drug addiction. Fame and fortune early is often difficult. I do not see that falling record sales will be the way to wean her off the habit. But I also sympathise deeply with the parents who must be at their wits end.

JC, London, UK

How do we stop these wretched people abusing and injuring themselves? By ignoring them; by not reporting their doings. They will then have no audience for their attention-seeking antics and will stop indulging in them.

John Vincent, Christchurch, New Zealand

I can't believe ITV news had a story about this. Lots of singers and musicians are on drugs we all know this. It's not news.

Heather, Manchester,

Just received Amy's CD for my 55th birthday and it is great. Sadly, she reminds me of native Texan Janis Joplin (and her worried parents) my highschool idol I enjoy hearing to this day. I pray Amy gets clean so we do not lose another young female idol too soon.

Wyman Elrod, Dallas, Texas USA

No doubt her parents will love her no matter what, and that's fine.

But please, for every perosn that wants to read about her problems there will be thousands who don't. I'm one of the latter. Surely The Times can find better and more interesting people to write about.

Mike B, Guia de Isora , Tenerife

They will do what they will do. Whatever anyone else tries to do for them will have little effect until they decide that they want to get clean. It's a sad scenario played out over and over again the world over. By the time they have got to where they are the dice is cast, sadly. We can all hope for them but only they can change things. Hard but repeatedly shown to be true.

paul martin, Wargrave ,

Why suddenly are we so interested in whether or not another 'star' has a drug problem and has to go to rehab. She's not the first and won't be the last. Aerosmith, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Beatles - they've all done drugs and it was pretty much ignored, what's the big deal with this one hit wonder. Everyone knows what drugs do to you, it's her choice to take them. She can't really blame it on her 'celebrity status'.

Get over it everyone, it's really boring!!!

Dee, Spain,

It's tragic that today Amy Winehouse should be a promising singer with the odd interview on the music pages, her husband should be an unkown, Britney Spears should be yesterday's starlet and Pete Doherty should have been long forgotten.
I would love to see the front pages of our nation's newspapers and magazines promoting Britain's real success stories, the characters that are fantastic role models for young people - the likes of Gordon Ramsay, Marcus Wareing, Lewis Hamilton, Michael Owen, Andy Murray, Orlando Bloom.
Sadly, the fastest way to find super celebrity today is modest fame couple with an orgy of drug and alcohol abuse fuelling a headlong descent into self destruction.
In a perfect world it would be nice if all media simply withdrew the oxygen of publicity from such walking dead.
Sadly, from the sales their stories draw, it seems their voracious appetite for drugs and self harm is matched only by the hungriness of millions of readers desperate to see every moment.

Andrew Brown, Liverpool,

Although we all know that a large number of people take drugs in the entertainment industry there are only two I can immediately think of who look like genuine 'junkies', people you'd almost think didn't have a home to go to, and that's Pete Doherty and Amy Winehouse. But out of those two Amy looks the worst, and I feel the in-laws have a point. Why do record companies continue to deal with people when they're like this? If a law prevented record companies signing contracts with such people, the drug habit in the music industry would almost surely die.

Paul, Bristol,

We seek through music to be moved, out of boredom maybe, that suffocating comfort zone, or for fear of what's lurking in the silence, we listen and hear and sense that desire to live, struggle, love in all variations, varieties, vibes, and it wanders through the air, easily, by magnet-moved cones, and how far away from its passionate origin, heart driven, expression.

PJ, Austin, USA

‘How do we stop Amy becoming the next dead young rock star?’

Do we want to? At least it would stop her clogging up the newspapers.

Sandy, Bradford,

Winehouse is a joke. She is a talentless narcissist who is spurred on by the fantasy that she is a 'troubled genius' - she forgets that those people she imagines herself on a list with: Joplin, Hendrix, Morrison, Cobain etc, actually took the trouble to be ingenious in their music before their self-destruction got the better of them. She should grow up.

Gabriel Casey, Belfast, Northern Ireland

Amy Whinehouse has more soul than any white girl I have ever heard! The first time I heard her on the radio, I thought she was a Sista from NOLA (New Orleans). So if doing drugs is her thing, let her be. I guess being high all the time is what gives her that amazing talent.

Datmynigga, Chi Town, USA

I certainly won't miss Amy Winehouse.

ron, toronto,

Throw her in a cell for cold turkey - if she lives, she can get a job at Tescos. She is a symbol of all that is wrong with Britain, obsessed with people like her, ignoring all of the millions of ordinary people who just get on with things. So called pop stars, Big Brother shows, footballers on 100k a week with 'problems' , royalty and their hangers on - pathetic.

tony, birmingham, uk

I certainly won't miss Amy Winehouse.

ron, toronto,

I think Amy is great, and she has the potential to be Really Great. For people to sit back, judge her and and do nothing is tantamount to assisting her suicide. You may not like her music or her looks, but she is still a human being and deserves all the support and treatment just like anyone else.

A, London,

How cynical of the parents to use a radio show to keep the flame of publicity oxygenated in theirs and their daughter's all encompassing self obsession. Are there no depths which so called celebrities and their family and friends will not plumb to satisfy their grotesque egos? You try to make us read this dross - we say NO! NO! NO!

JC, London,

What about the other side of the question, that is the issue of the record companies that are making the marketing for the regular drug use?

Oeiras Jose, Lisbon, Portugal

I always wondered what happened to Janice from friends!

"OH MY GOD!!!"

Sundip Bansal, Birmingham, England

The headline assumes that there's something worthwhile to save...

chris, wellington, new zealand,

I care.

Ian , London,

One of the side effects of heroin is it makes your skin very itchy. You scratch until you bleed, this badly scratched skin is often mistaken for "self harming"

neil, chessington, surrey

Hang on - why haven't they been arrested? If It were a member of the public we wouldn't have had the same 'two tier' justice that goes on for these drunk, drug-taking 'celebraties'. Winehouse, Moss, Docherty et al should all be locked up.

Tim Murray, Berwick,

As if this couple is the only one in the world of entertainment to be involved in heavy drug-taking... We should therefore boycott sales of more than half the music industry. There's an idea.

julien, montreal, canada

Is anyone else bored by the ridiculous amount of press coverage this story is attracting? Paris, Britney, Pete, Amy ... it's so tedious reading about them every day ... why do people care??

alex, london,

Matt, Wuerzburg, Germany:
Amy may have the fame, success, talent and wealth but she certainly does NOT have the freedom you talk of.
Sadly she is at the complete beck-and-call of her drug(s) of choice and is simply throwing away the other 4 gifts. Do you call that freedom?
Am I green with envy? Nah. Do I want her to pay the price for her excesses? Nah. As a music fan I would much rather watch her develop that indisputable talent rather than see her die before she is finished.
I often wonder what people such as Jimi Hendrix might have achieved had he been alive today. Conversely, look at what we would have missed if the likes of Bowie, Clapton, Ozzy Osborne. Lou Reed etc had died so early into their careers. I know I would much rather still be seeing Hendrix rocking at 65 years of age!
"Rock On Amy" - A strange comment as I can't see her doing much of that in the grave.

Richard , Jersey, CI,

They are both grown adults, so why can't they decide what they want to do? In terms of the record company banning their behavior or fans, that's ridiculous. Death can often be a great marketing move for rock singers - look at how Jimi Hendricks, The Doors or Janis Joplin's sales increased post-mortem.

benjamin Franklin, Philadelphia, USA

Sorry for them? Sorry for the crippled, the sick, poor children...

Alex Guerriero, Oxford, England

If Chris from London actually knew anything about the subject he purports to be an expert on, he would know that the current Amy Winehouse, Back To Black, is her second.

Her first album, Frank, was nominated for a Mercury Music Award, and she won an Ivor Novello award for the lead single from it, Stronger Then Me, as she did for the lead single Rehab from Back To Black, which has itself been nominated for a Mercury Music Award.

Rather puts paid to his theories of Mercury Music Award nominees' second albums bombing, doesn't it? Perhaps he should do some more research before attempting to judge her talent.

Amy is one of this country's most original and best talents to some along in a long time, and I wish her well in her struggle.

Damian, Reading,

Amy who??

Hamish Morrison, DUBLIN, IRELAND

U have to feel for the parents, drugs are a nightmare..and it amazes me that the stupid continue to gte involved in them. but they do...and they will continue to do so... darwninism at work .. the stupid dont survive.. lets not waste ink on them,rather we should reserve our sympathy for those they leave behind.

zugster, zurich, switzerland

Who cares , she obviously doesn't , so let her go , better world without attention seekers like her and Doherty !

david harden, london,

Amy, Britney, Whitney, Lindsay - these were the role models for my daughter who would like to be a singer/actress. She is not a star struck wanabee, she has talent and works hard.

But there are too few influential people condemning the behaviour of these sad girls/women. This leaves girls from 7 to 17, very confused about what a successful female entertainer needs to do, in order to sustain a career.

As for, "leave her alone, she's a rock star" - does it look like fun to you, lurching from overdose to ridicule, passing self injury and humiliation on the way? Let alone the loss of revenue, and respect, from cancelled appearances.

I am a mum to two girls and a teenage boy, and I am scared every single day that the culture that has desensitised us to drug abuse, is producing so many lost souls. And then we pick over the pieces in the press. Frightening.

Dee, Brighton,

Finally someone had the courage and the sense to speak about a real problem of our time. Even though the person who speaks is concerned about a familiar issue. That entertainment industry, and specially televisions like MTV, can be used to promote and replicate the consume of drugs. This is , evidently of the interest of the drug business entrepenaurs. Yes, indeed, to give the prizes to Amy Winehouse, is to value her behaviour and explicit lyrics of drug and alcohol abuse and not the artistic value of the music. Have you been watching MTV lately?

Oeiras Jose, Lisbon, Portugal

Winehouse exemplifies some unsettling trends affecting the modern pop act.

She has saturation media coverage but her genuinely committed fanbase is quite small. Most coverage is about her personal life rather than her music, or her opinions on music. Reckless hedonism is currently vogueish behaviour (her publicists are clearly in an arms race with pete doherty) but next year it could be chastity..or buddhism.

She is now a household name but most people would struggle to sing the melody to one of her songs. After the current media firestorm she will sell a lot of her first album to casual music buyers. Like many mercury award nominees her second album will likely bomb. Amy's music is neither original, nor represents a new musical movement of any depth. Thus appreciation of her `'art`' is superficial.

The music industry needs to think bigger. They need to develop long-term talent rather than stoke publicity around new acts. Mainstream media should leave music alone.

chris, london,

Could this be a marketing ploy?

Is there any correlation between a luke warm reception recently and the need to reinvent oneself?

Pete Balchin, Solicitor , Bristol, UK

Her tatoos are disgusting. Her look is frightful. She's certainly not Billie Holliday's reincarnation.
She takes drugs like everybody in showbusiness (and it started well before the 60's).
The money milked from your wallets by the showbusiness industry is indecent and, personnally, I don't like her songs and I won't buy any of her CDs.

That said, some hateful and ghastly comments one can read here should be reason enough to commit suicide by drugs and alcohol. I hope her relatives don't read too much of that disgusting torrent of insults and personnal problems.

It seems to me that some readers are letting too much steam out. When the public opinion, corseted by political correctness, gets a "legitimate target", it's a clear sign that we shouldn't join the pack...

Ronnie, PARIS, FRANCE

Amy who ?????

Mike Jones, Farnborough, Hampshire

Do nothing at all save pray for her soul.

Rupert, Glasgow, Scotland

Bram, that's some really profound insight that you've got there. Stating it twice just made it that much more powerful.

Amy Winehouse is massively talented (just listen to her lyrics) and has one of the great voices of the modern era, but she's also an idiot for going down this route. Kudos to those around her for trying to shame her out of this self-destructive route that her life is taking.

The music press also deserves opprobrium (you know who you are, British weekly music paper...) for condoning and glorifying this kind of behaviour.

Amy, you're not Pete Doherty. There's a lot more to you than the drugtaking. You may have irritated me by pulling out of 2 gigs, but you're a lot better than this.

David Harrison, Manchester, UK

We don't do anything. If she's stupid enough to take hard drugs, she deserves all she gets....end of.

Judy , Liverpool, england

As it appears to be public knowledge that she's a drug user, why cannot the police raid her home and chuck her into jail?

john r, finchley,

She's over 21 & in charge of her own destiny. She wants to die, that's her choice. A s a 2nd rate rock 'n 'roll star (!) let her go. If she has any spirit she will read this and similar postings and get her butt off the ground and go for it. No time for wasters. Do it or die, Her choice. The world is full of nice people who would die for such a chance at life. She is pathetic.

John, Durban,

Amy is obviously a very troubled yougn woman; some sort of intervetion would seem to be the only way forward. I hear Paul McKenna has had some success with compulsive behaviours in other well known individuals and wonder if this could be a way forward.

Tim, Sevenoaks, Kent,

Ignore Winehouse and all the other mediocre celebrities of this world...and watch your life improve...

Bram, Amsterdam, Netherlands

I thinkk she is a complet idiot for throwing her life away like that. it's not as though she needed to or anything. SHE IS A COMPLETE LETDOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm realyy dissapointed and i just don't know how i'm going to survive any longer!

Fred, London, England

Like any other mediocre celebrity, Winehouse is boring and irrelevant. Ignoring her and her ilk will improve your life substantially.

Bram, Amsterdam, Netherlands

The Answer, a neo classic rock group from Ireland are the real winners here. They got a request to support the Rolling Stones in Amy's place.

Looks like fate wins again.

Max Trotter, Kingston upon Hull, UK

As with any person with such an addiction only they can make a decision and seek help, it really doesn't matter much how much people and family insist.. only they have the power and in this case it seems obvious they are far from wanting to abandon their habit. Money is the only reason they are not commiting crimes and aren´t in prison, apart from that they are no different from any other junkie. An everyday story of the horrors of drugs.

John locke, london, UK

All you miserable better-than-thous will never have the success, talent, freedom, fame and wealth as Amy does. You moralizers are in truth turning green with envy at people who have all the fun and success you don't and you wish for nothing less that they'll have to "pay the price" for those unrestrained excesses you can only dream of. Rock on, Amy.

Matt, Wuerzburg, Germany

Unfortunately, concerned bystanders such as friends and relatives cannot make addicts of any kind kick their habit. It's a decision they themselves have to make. I believe this is one of the tenets of organizations such as AA and it is also my sad personal experience as the son of an inveterate alcoholic. I find this especially painful in Amy Winehouse's case, as I love her album Back to Black and would like to see it followed up by many more. It is a shame to be reduced to a helpless bystander while such a remarkable goes to waste.

Jan Willem Reitsma, Haarlem, the Netherlands

Let them get on with it, as long as they do not impinge on others they are entitled to kill themselves.

Dave Madley, Alicante, Spain

Goodness, one simply MUST do what Giles and Georgette say... what a frightful mess. Oh deary me, I'll have to take the corgis for a walk to calm down

Liz W, Windor, UK

If the record company have a vested interest in record sales then surely they'd like Amy to stay alive and make some more?

Do The Beatles have to give their awards back? Or the Stones? Or any other musician of any substance? (no pun intended).

J. Wilkes, Gloucester,

Allow me to be the first to say she was a great singer who will be sadly missed. RIP Amy (or at least her career).

Chris, Worthing, England

I feel desperately sorry for two sets of parents watching their children die a very slow and painful death both to themselves and their loved ones.

CB, Wilts, UK

It's tragic that today Amy Winehouse should be a promising singer with the odd interview on the music pages, her husband should be an unkown, Britney Spears should be yesterday's starlet and Pete Doherty should have been long forgotten.

I would love to see the front pages of our nation's newspapers and magazines promoting Britain's real success stories, the characters that are fantastic role models for young people - the likes of Gordon Ramsay, Marcus Wareing, Lewis Hamilton, Michael Owen, Andy Murray, Orlando Bloom.

Sadly, the fastest way to find super celebrity today is modest fame couple with an orgy of drug and alcohol abuse fuelling a headlong descent into self destruction.

In a perfect world it would be nice if all media simply withdrew the oxygen of publicity from such walking dead.

Sadly, from the sales their stories draw, it seems their voracious appetite for drugs and self harm is matched only by the hungriness of millions of readers desperate to see every moment.

Andrew Brown, Liverpool,

A singer's personal life and problems are one thing, their musical talent and albums another. Why mix them up?

Anyway, this is beside the point - why is the Times reporting news more suitable to gossip celeb 'zines like Heat and Closer? Is there really nothing else to inform the public about?

N.H., Southampton, England

As a brother of a recovering heroin addict, I know the devastation that drugs can cause for the individuals concerned and their families. I think Ms Winehouse's parents-in-law are spot on. The only way to help those who are addicted is to force them - literally, force them - to face-up to the damage they are doing both to themselves and to their loved ones. This requires persistence, tough love and a willingness to never give in to the prevarications and procrastinations that come with drug addiction. The way that drug addiction is glamourised and accepted in the entertainment industry is disgusting, and indulging the pathetic behaviour of the likes of Amy Winehouse, and other famous addicts, needs to stop. Now.

John, Montgomery, Alabama, USA (ex UK)

As a recovering alcoholic I have to say, unhappily, that there is nothing anyone can do about this except the abusers themselves. Well meaning fans, parents and managers just come across as interfering and fascist.

Andrew , Newbridge , Powys

Oh, what a disgusting picture attached to this article. Tatoos on her arms, unkempt piles of hair, obviously devoid of anything to offer society but sex. This is the epitome of the dregs of society, not someone worthy of any attention in the pages of Times.

Scott, Durham, NC, USA

I think its pretty pointless.
It will depress her and make her take more drugs.
She will take out a loan if she runs out of money, because she will be so desperate.
She needs to admit she has a problem before anyone can help her.
If she doesn't admit it soon, before we know she'll be dead.
Yes, she is a talented girl...no means to say she can take drugs.
So if you want to stop buying her records then so do it.
It won't do anything.
All she needs to do is get rid of her maniac of husband.
Then get help.
The girl is dying.
I actually feel sorry for her.

Nikki, Gravesend, UK

Winehouse is a great let down to all her fans, it is a pity she has wasted her brilliant talent and thrown away other peoples respect for her.

Jamie Onslow, London, England

The story above reminds me of the situation that Marco Pantani found himself in in his problems with crack and cocaine, some people close to them obviously care and want to help but others with a vested interest seem to know what is going on but do very little to address the situation. In saying that it is very difficult to try and help someone who doesn't feel that they need help, but the softly, softly approach does not work.

Even sending her on holidays isn't going to work, look at what happened to The Happy Mondays when they sent them away to record their second album! Drugs are everywhere, what she/they need are tighter controls and limits placed on their life and lifestyle.

I think the parents are right, the people in charge of awards should pull her name from them, it may not make any impact on her but it will to send out a message to fans,the marketing people,the record labels and the media that we cannot condone people's behaviour just because they claim to be a rockstar

Harry, Dublin, Ireland

Isn't it pretty obvious that the girl has problems, one of them being a boy (lets not call him a man,he doesn't deserve that name) who she just happened to marry,sadly there seems to be little hope and as we all watch the spiral down her parents sit by and say "It'll be OK she'll hit rock bottom soon and then the only way is up", sorry to say in her apparent condition "Rock Bottom" will include a nice glitzy showbiz FUNERAL.
Someone needs to take control for her and I don't think it will be her "Hubby", we don't need "Signals" sending to her because they just wouldn't be received and decyphered correctly.
The world is going to lose a very talented Female, who also isn't mature or stable enough at the moment to realise she's actually dying, then again considering the self harm she may actually want to self-destruct.

Somebody once said to me "How can you stop feeling pain when you aren't alive to feel it go away" Amy just think on.....don't you dare deprive us of the talent you hold!

Ian, York, UK

Who cares? The pair of wasters!

Rossco, Inverness,