No one implied that Jon (or being under Jon's thumb) made Richie drink. That would be like blaming Adam Sambora for Richie's addictions because he had the audacity to die. But it's interesting that for all the times it has been suggested that Richie's marital issues and his father's death may have contributed to his substance abuse, no one jumped to defend Mr. Sambora or Heather, or accused people of blaming them for Richie being an alcoholic.

This is the same thing - no more and no less. But God forbid, that anyone suggest that Jon, even unintentionally, may have created a situation which could just as likely have contributed to Richie going off the rails. Because THEN, of course, they could only be suggesting such a far-fetched scenario in order to turn Richie into a victim and cast Jon as the devil who is responsible for all of Richie's problems.

Richie, and no one else, is responsible for Richie's actions. Even so, I think most people would agree that stressful situations can cause an addict to self-medicate, whether it's diving deeper into a bottle or taking more pills.

Or are you saying you think that even IF Richie felt like he was being pushed aside, in a band that he had committed his entire adult life to, that still wouldn't qualify as a "stressful situation", which might lead to increased substance abuse? Keeping in mind that the choice would still be Richie's and no one was forcing his decision.

Frankly, that possibility is no less (and, please note, no more) realistic to me, than concluding that Jon may have turned to Shanks, more and more, because Richie was probably drunk or unavailable, or just plain unreliable. If you recall, that was one of the first defenses offered on Jon's behalf after he said that he and Shanks had been joined at the hip and Richie came in second to that.

And I don't remember anyone saying that that theory belonged on X-Files, despite the fact that it, too, was based only on something that might have happened.