Doug Thorburn on Early-Stage Alcohol and Drug Addiction

We’ve all suffered losses, you idiot “expert.” That doesn’t turn us into alcoholics who commit mass murder.

September 4, 2012 at 3:47 pm · Filed under 4 - Alcoholic Myth of the Month

“Individuals who commit acts of mass violence often have suffered some kind of loss and aren’t able to bounce back from it.” * So said* Secret Service and the U.S. Marshals Service behavioral threat assessment consultant Barry Spodak, commenting on the James E. Holmes mass shooting. Some myths make my hair stand on end; this, one of the most ignorant statements ever made by someone who should know better (what?! He consults for the Secret Service and U.S. Marshals Service?!) is one of those. I suspect everyone reading this article has suffered a severe loss (likely several) during their lives. Were you able to “bounce back” without committing violence? Of course you were. If you didn’t or know someone who didn’t, ...

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Alcoholism doesn’t mesh well with a GPS.

September 4, 2012 at 3:46 pm · Filed under 5 - Amazing Alcoholic Antics

Story from “This is True” by Randy Cassingham, with his “tagline:” “PENALTY STROKE: Patricia A. Maione, 46, ‘stated that her GPS had told her to turn left,’ a Northbridge, Mass., police officer wrote in his report. ‘She stated that this left brought her into a 'cornfield' and once she was in the 'cornfield' she kept driving trying to get out of her 'cornfield'.’ It wasn't a cornfield, it was a golf course: the officer found her car stuck in a sand trap. And, witnesses say, she took the turn onto the course at about 45 mph. It wasn't so much of a failure of the GPS navigation unit as it was, the officer found, that Maione allegedly admitted she had drunk ...

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What would you do…if you’re driving your truck on a hot early evening, your dogs need to be cooled down and the truck needs a wash—and you are drunk off your ass? (TAR Lite # 17)

August 28, 2012 at 11:33 am · Filed under TAR Lite: What Would You Do?

Would you: 1. Turn on the air conditioning and carefully head home to wash your truck? 2. Turn on the air and, when it doesn't work, roll the windows down and carefully head home figuring you can wash the truck another day? 3. Head to a nearby lake, take your dogs for a swim and, when it cools down, head home and wash your truck? 4. Since you're too drunk to drive, pull over before your kill someone? 5. Go to a nearby lake and drive your truck, including the dogs, into it, up to your door handles? Congratulations if you selected # 5, which is what an unnamed, heavily intoxicated man, age 49, did in Calhoun County, Michigan. Sheriff's Deputies ...

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What would you do…if you come home to find your live-in girlfriend has posted the photo of another man on her Facebook page—and you have alcoholic biochemistry? (TAR Lite # 16)

August 21, 2012 at 1:19 pm · Filed under TAR Lite: What Would You Do?

Would you: 1. Politely ask who’s the man on the page? 2. Tell your girlfriend you’re very upset and, because you’re in no emotional condition to hear any excuses and want to avoid a fight, you immediately take off for the night? 3. Accuse your girlfriend of cheating and then, after cooling down a bit, ask her who the man on the page is? 4. Angrily demand to know who the man on the page is and, before you hear an adequate explanation, grab the laptop computer, smash it against the wall and strike your girlfriend in the face with your fist? Congratulations if you selected # 4, which is what Lowell Bleshecer Turpin, 40, did. As so often (unfortunately) proves to be the case, ...

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What would you do…if you are driving drunk, feeling sleepy—and have alcholic biochemistry? (TAR Lite # 15)

August 1, 2012 at 10:54 am · Filed under TAR Lite: What Would You Do?

Would you: 1. Make a snap decision to get clean and sober and call 911 to report yourself to make sure you don’t hurt anyone? 2. Pull over and call a cab to take you home? 3. Pull over and stumble home on foot? 4. Stop in the left-hand turn lane in front of a police station and pass out? Congratulations if you selected #4, which is what Michael Fleurizard, 20, of Florida did. Responding to a call of a driver passed out behind the wheel, several Jupiter, Florida police officers approached. When the officers managed to wake him, Fleurizard resisted attempts to have his BAL taken and instead drove off, dragging one officer and striking another. Luckily, the two officers suffered only minor injuries. ...

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Rodney King, for better or worse. A classic case of the duality of alcoholism.

July 30, 2012 at 9:12 am · Filed under General

Sometimes it Takes an Addict: The Duality of Rodney King’s Life Drunks, Drugs & Debits describes numerous cases involving the wide-ranging negative impact of addicts’ behaviors. One such case was a classic: “…[and] we are all indirectly affected by addicts’ behaviors. The damage one addict inflicts can, in fact, be monumental and injure practically all of us. Regardless of the police officers’ behavior, [an alcoholic] was high on alcohol and other drugs when he led them on a 100-mph car chase. When he stopped, he violently resisted arrest. Entire sections of Los Angeles [later] burned to the ground, a billion dollars in property damage resulting [from] one man’s [addictive use]….The results of such addicts’ behaviors are reflected in our insurance rates and ...

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Runner-Up: Krystle Marie Reyes provides an outrageous example of the sort of tax fraud methheads are capable of.

July 30, 2012 at 9:11 am · Filed under General

Runner-up for top story of the month: Krystle Marie Reyes, 25, accused of tax evasion, theft and computer crimes in which she duped the state of Oregon into giving her a $2.1 million tax refund on reported earnings of $3 million. Having $2.1 million withheld suggests, in a state with a virtual 9% flat tax on all taxable earnings, at least $23 million of income. Returns on which such earnings are reported would rarely, if ever, be self-prepared (she used Turbo Tax). However, despite the return being red-flagged by Oregon’s automated system, in a subsequent manual review state workers (incredibly) OK’d the refund, which was loaded on to a debit card for Reyes. This occurred despite at least three glaring red ...

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Behaviors indicative of alcoholism: former Senator John Edwards, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. and Ponzi schemer Russell Wasendorf Sr.

July 30, 2012 at 9:09 am · Filed under General

Under watch: In an early 2009 piece on white collar crime, The Economist magazine mentioned something those who have read my books would predict: “Many [Club Fed and other white collar] prisoners suddenly discover, post-conviction, that they had a drinking problem….” I would add that those who don’t figure this out might benefit from greater introspection. In the spirit of The Economist’s discovery, a few recent stories follow for which the evidence of alcoholism is in the purported behaviors or alleged crimes themselves. Former U.S. Senator John Edwards (D-NC), 59, found not guilty of one charge, with a mistrial declared by the judge on five other charges of violating multiple campaign contribution laws in a failed attempt to cover up an extramarital ...

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Message to Sage Stallone’s attorney: you really don’t know if your client “drinks.”

July 30, 2012 at 9:07 am · Filed under 1 - Top Stories

Headline of the month: “Sage Stallone ‘Didn’t Drink’ Says Attorney” So said Stallone’s lawyer and close friend George Braunstein in commenting on Sage Stallone’s tragic death at age 36. “There was a report that his room was filled with liquor bottles. Actually, they were empty bottles of Dr Brown’s Cream Soda….I don’t think it has anything to do with drugs, he wasn’t that kind of guy.” Braunstein insisted (his words), “He wasn’t anyone trying to take his life.” Mr. Braunstein, I hardly know where to begin, but let’s try to dispel the myths you are helping to promulgate. 1. The annals of alcoholism are filled with those who managed to hide their use from friends, co-workers, parents and even spouses for years. ...

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Henry Hill, inspiration for “Goodfellas,” dead at 69 after a life of excitement fueled by alcoholism.

July 30, 2012 at 9:06 am · Filed under 1 - Top Stories

Sometimes, it takes an addict: Henry Hill, who inspired Martin Scorsese’s film “Goodfellas,” dead at age 69 following decades of heavy smoking and years of heart disease. After an arrest in 1980 on charges of drug-trafficking and facing a long prison term or possible execution by his former crime bosses, Hill became a government witness and helped send dozens of former associates to prison. He was expelled from the government’s witness protection program in 1987 after “relentless misbehavior” including drug possession; amazingly, he managed to survive another 25 years outside the program, with many of those he feared either dead or in prison. While claiming to have never murdered anyone, he knew, by his own admission, where a “great many bodies” ...

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Enablers could be held partly responsible. Let’s start with law enforcers and see where that takes us. The case of Brinda Sue McCoy and Anthony Nicholas Orban.

July 30, 2012 at 9:04 am · Filed under 6 - Public Policy Recommendations

Should Enablers be Held Responsible? Vernon Johnson, in I’ll Quit Tomorrow, explicated that every alcoholic experiences euphoric recall, causing him to view everything he says or does while under the influence through self-favoring lenses. James Graham, in The Secret History of Alcoholism, expounded that the early stages of the disease are characterized by an inordinately large sense of self-importance (inflated ego) something first written about by Harry M. Tiebout in his fabulous pamphlet Ego Factors in Surrender in Alcoholism. During my research while writing Drunks, Drugs & Debits, I realized that Johnson’s euphoric recall triggers Graham and Tiebout’s alcoholic egomania, which increases over the progression of the early- to middle-stages of the disease. Over time, egomania and its behavioral manifestations can ...

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Put your old drinking friends and old drinking life behind you.

July 30, 2012 at 9:02 am · Filed under 3 - Dear Doug...

Now that I’m sober, my friends are no longer friendly Dear Doug: I formed close friendships with a group of women who became my bridesmaids, confidants and associates in my career. We raised our children together and celebrated together—a lot. Nearly eight years ago I stopped drinking. Though my friends cheered me on initially, they dropped me when, in early sobriety, I didn’t attend their champagne brunches and ladies’ happy hours, doing what I had to do to stay sober. They are smart women. I thought they grasped the idea of addiction when they conspired in an intervention for another friend. I miss my friends and have invited them over, but they have generally snubbed my invitations and have never reciprocated. Do you think there ...

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If life “hasn’t been kind,” look for alcoholism.

July 30, 2012 at 9:00 am · Filed under 4 - Alcoholic Myth of the Month

“Life has not been kind to Erin.” So said a caption in the National Enquirer underneath a picture of former “Happy Days” and “Joanie Loves Chachi” star Erin Moran, now 51, who played Richie Cunningham’s cute little sister Joanie. Life would likely have been fine had she not “frequented the local bar,” as a source for the story reported. The Enquirer writers observe Moran is “haggard, near-broke and living in a rundown trailer park,” but they fail to connect the dots between apparent alcoholism and her “unkind” life. The caption should likely have read, “Alcohol, and therefore alcoholism, has not been kind to Erin.” If our diagnosis is correct, Joanie, life will be much kinder when you get sober. We’re rooting ...

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Stumbling into the wrong house appears to be a common behavior among drunks.

July 30, 2012 at 8:59 am · Filed under 5 - Amazing Alcoholic Antics

Story from “This is True” by Randy Cassingham, with his “tagline:” “FREAKS OF NOMENCLATURE, BILATERAL DIVISION: Two weeks after graduating from the University of Colorado, a 21-year-old student allegedly went into someone else's Boulder house at 3:30 in the morning. When the shadowy figure entered the bedroom, the homeowner yelled at the intruder to get out -- and he had a gun. When the figure came closer, the homeowner fired a shot, and the intruder dropped. Zoey Ripple, 21, police say, had a blood-alcohol level of ‘above’ 0.2 percent; she was hospitalized with a gunshot wound to her hip. The homeowner will not be charged, police say, as Timothy Justice was acting in self defense. Ripple will be, though: felony criminal ...

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What would you do…if you caused an automobile accident, possibly resulting in injuries? (TAR Lite # 14)

July 24, 2012 at 11:38 am · Filed under TAR Lite: What Would You Do?

Would you: 1. Call 911 for an ambulance and exchange insurance information with the injured driver? 2. See if the injured person needs an ambulance and admit you were at fault? 3. Check your car for damage and, after seeing it is probably inoperable, check on the other driver and ask if he’d like you to call for help? 4. Flee the scene in your car but, when it dies a block away, leave your disabled vehicle, run a short distance and, when you realize you left a case of beer (with an open can) inside your car, turn around to go fetch it? Congratulations if you selected #4, which is what Scott Lee Applegate, 50, did. While Patrolman Dustin Reeder was inspecting the disabled ...

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