Renowned Buddhist and yoga teacher Michael Stone died on July 14th after taking street drugs in Victoria.
In an official statement on Stone’s Facebook Page, Carina Stone, Erin Robinsong & Rose Riccio confirmed that his body was found on July 14th and that he remained on life support until July 16th to allow his organs to be donated.
They also elaborated on the background behind Stone’s sudden passing, describing the story as “complex and heartbreaking”.
“If you met or studied with Michael you may remember him as wise, charismatic and poetic,” the statement said. “He seemed unshakeable and capable of holding everyone else’s suffering. And he did, but he struggled with his own.”
A Struggle With Mental Illness
The statement then revealed that Stone had had a lifelong struggle with bipolar disorder.
Bipolar disorder affects the brain and causes unusual shifts in mood, energy, activity levels, and the ability to carry out day-to-day tasks.
“He perceived the world with incredible sensitivity, through music, art and literature,” said the statement. “Along with this lust for life was an impulsivity that he struggled to quell through yoga and Buddhist practice. His brain was rapidfire and wide open. It was part of his brilliance and his sensitive nature.”
However, Stone’s combination of self-care, naturopaths, herbalists, trainers, and therapists didn’t stop the disorder from worsening. “He turned to psychiatry and medication as well,” said the statement. “Balancing his meds was ever-changing and precarious. He struggled to be completely open with those around him about how much and how deeply he struggled.”
“He was on the cusp of revealing publicly how shaped he was by bipolar disorder, and how he was doing.”
Lack of prescription opiates may have led to street drugs
However, this spring, Stone’s mania began to cycle more rapidly, prompting an increase in his medication dosage. According to the statement, he also mentioned a desire for a “safe, non-addictive prescribed natural form of opium.”
But it appears no one understood his true level of his desperation until it was too late.
RCMP found his body around midnight on Thursday after his wife Carina had reported him missing. Upon arrival at the hospital, he was unresponsive and had no brain function.
After declaring him brain dead on July 14th, the hospital kept Stone on life support for two days for organ donation purposes. Three people received new life through his lungs and kidneys.
“On Thursday, July 13, Michael left his Gulf Island home for a routine trip to Victoria,” said the statement. “On the way into town, he called a substance abuse and addictions pharmacy, likely to ask for a safe, controlled drug to self-medicate. He was not a candidate. [Later that day,] he got a haircut, exercised, ran household errands and finally acquired a street drug. Initial toxicology tests suggest inconclusively that he had opioids, including fentanyl, in his system.”
But due to the ongoing fentanyl crisis, it will take up to five months before conclusive toxicology reports come back.
Renewed discussion of mental illness and addiction
The statement on Stone’s page also called for empathy. “It may be hard to put one’s mind into his, to imagine how he could take such a risk with a young family, baby on the way, with such a full life and such fortune,” said the statement.
“Rather than feel the shame and tragedy of it, can we find questions? What was he feeling? How was he coping? What am I uncomfortable hearing? What can we do for ourselves and others who have impulses or behaviors we cannot understand? Impulses that scare us and silence us? How can we take care of each other?”
Remembered across the globe
So far, there have been over twenty vigils and meditations around the world in honour of Michael Stone. People have felt his absence from Victoria, to San Diego, to Athens.
At least two more such events are scheduled in the days to come.
Stone’s family has also received an outpouring of love and support. A GoFundMe page set up by the Kelowna ENSO Society for Carina and her children has already raised over $60,000.
“Michael did amazing work in the world and changed the lives of so many,” read the statement’s final lines. “He was a beautiful father and loving husband. He loved his life, his work and his students deeply. He was loved immeasurably. He continues.”
