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Dr. Drew on Miley: 'This is a child who is in trouble'

“We know that she’s going to be acting out now because her family’s in trouble, so it’s not unusual to see depression manifesting as various kinds of acting out behaviors,” the addiction specialist said.
/ Source: Access Hollywood

Dr. Drew Pinsky believes Miley Cyrus is “suffering.”

AccessHollywood.com caught up with Dr. Drew at KROQ’s Almost Acoustic Christmas 2010 on Sunday night in Los Angeles where he gave his take on the video that surfaced online last week, featuring the teen star allegedly smoking the legal, but psychedelic-effect inducing herb, salvia.

“We know that she’s going to be acting out now because her family’s in trouble, so it’s not unusual to see depression manifesting as various kinds of acting out behaviors,” the addiction specialist told Access. “Adolescents don’t get depressed the way adults do. They don’t get sad and cry and withdraw. They often act out and become irritable, they act out with drugs and ... get in trouble and she seems to be suffering.”

The “Celebrity Rehab” host also said salvia is a potent drug with serious effects.

“It’s a very powerful hallucinogen. It grows along the freeways here in Southern California. They make a powder out of it, they smoke it, they make tea out of it,” he continued. “The smoking causes a very intense hallucinatory high. It lasts just a few minutes and they’re very bizarre many times, too.”

According to Dr. Drew, the 18-year-old teen star, whose parents are divorcing, is in need of help.

“If I had a child that was doing that or if I was advising a parent, I would say get professional help immediately,” Dr. Drew told Access. “This cat is out of the bag. This is a child who is in trouble and who is suffering and this is her way of trying to manage that. Get professional help.”

After the video surfaced, Miley’s dad, Billy Ray Cyrus, tweeted, “Sorry guys. I had no idea. Just saw this stuff for the first time myself. Im so sad. There is much beyond my control right now.”

On Friday, a rep for Miley had no comment about the video when contacted by Access Hollywood. Her rep was not immediately available for comment when contacted by Access again on Monday.