Archive for September, 2005
Amazing Antics: Stories of Alcoholism-Driven Behaviorsâ„¢
Cooking meth
Story from "This is True"by Randy Cassingham, with his "tagline:â€
"GET OUT OF THE KITCHEN: Marlena Adams, 24, of Wasilla, Alaska, was burned over 50 percent of her body when a concoction of methamphetamine blew up in her household oven. She told police she does use meth, but the drugs weren't hers; rather, she says, someone put them in her oven in an attempt to kill her. In addition to drug charges, she faces a charge of reckless endangerment since her 3-year-old son was in the house at the time. (Anchorage Daily News) ...In her defense, she claims she was just teaching him how to cook."
Meth addicts will do anything for their drug, including ...
Ignore the drugs; focus on the unprotected sex
Alcoholic Myth-of-the-Month: (a possible half-truth) Unprotected sex is the root cause of the AIDS epidemic among gays.
"We are concerned that widespread alarm about crystal meth may divert attention from what must remain the chief focus of H.I.V. prevention"safe sex. Our recent online survey of more than four thousand gay men from all over America found that sixty-four per cent of those who reported having anal sex without a condom in their last encounter with a new or casual partner did not use drugs."
So said Mary Ann Chiasson and Sabina Hirshfield of Medical and Health Research Associates of New York City in a letter to the editor in the August 1, 2005 edition of The New Yorker. Granted, the instigation ...
An emotional roller-coaster
Dear Doug: Long married to an alcoholic
Dear Doug:
I've been married for 24 years, spending that time raising our five children and tending to our family business. Two years ago when he was 45, my husband, "Rick,"retired from the business, promising he'd find other work to make up for an expected reduction in income. After failing to find other work, he returned to manage the business, which is suffering.
Rick has experienced depression, anger and alcoholism, which is still there. I'm tired of an emotional roller coaster and while ready to leave, I am unsure about my rights in regard to the business, which we have agreed to sell. In the meantime, I've taken a promising job with a good salary. ...
Handel on the Law
Radio Review: "Handel on the Lawâ€
Bill Handel is the brilliant and incredibly funny and entertaining host of the weekday "Bill Handel Show"5am to 9am on KFI 640am in Los Angeles. This is remarkable, because he's an attorney. He also happens to be a recovering addict with about 20 years of sobriety.
Handel is also an amazingly busy guy. He owns a fertility clinic, is married and has a couple of pre-adolescent kids. And, he hosts "Handel on the Law"on Saturday mornings, 6am to 11am, in which he fields legal questions and gives the best"and often most amusing responses"possible. It's syndicated in other areas of the country, so you may have an opportunity to listen in. It's well worth your time"Handel ...
New Orleans, alcoholism and the next catastrophe
New Orleans, Alcoholism and the Next Catastrophe
The role that alcoholism has played in exacerbating a natural disaster has been completely ignored. Failing to properly deal with it could make the next disaster"natural or otherwise"far worse.
"I don't understand how people can shoot at those who are trying to help New Orleaners in their hour of need.â€
"The sentiment of a number of reporters
Tragedy brings out the best and the worst in people. The catastrophe brought to the Gulf Coast by Hurricane Katrina is no exception. Heroes, at great risk to their own lives, have rescued countless strangers. Many are opening their doors to those they've never before met and charity has been given on an unprecedented scale. Yet, some survivors ...
Runners-up for Sept ’05: the media’s unawareness of alcoholism in sexual predators; plus sports stars (Milton Bradley) and animal abusers
Runners-up for top story of the month: Reporting on the tragedy in New Orleans while failing to identify the role that alcohol and other drug addiction may have played is hardly unique. The media completely ignored addiction in the reports of the Joseph Edward Duncan lll kidnapping of Shasta Groene and the murder of her brothers Dylan and Slade, the children's mother Brenda, and Brenda's boyfriend, Mark McKenzie, which occurred in June. An article in the August 5 Los Angeles Times may have been the first to disclose the fact that in 1994, after serving over 14 years for a 1980 rape of a 14-year-old boy, Duncan was released with the proviso that he abstain from alcohol and other drugs. ...
Under watch for Sept ’05: Jesse Jackson, Samuel Israel and others
Under watch: Topanga record producer Christian Julian Irwin who, after telling a friend he was being pursued by Nigerian scam artists, disappeared for five days and was found naked in a stream and reportedly delusional. Hedge fund Bayou Management LLC operator and founder Samuel Israel, suspected of defrauding investors of hundreds of millions of dollars, telling his clients he was shutting the doors due to family troubles including an impending divorce. A former partner, Daniel Marino, admitted in a suicide note to defrauding investors and accused Israel of once holding a gun to his chest. Physicist John Schreifer, who pleaded no contest to vehicular manslaughter in an incident in which he killed one and injured seven while driving at more ...
The ice cream truck driver wasn’t just selling just ice cream!
Amazing Antics: Stories of Alcoholism-Driven Behaviorsâ„¢
Too many beers in the ice-cream truck
"DING-A-LING: Denell Heller was watching out her New Berlin, Wisc., window and commenting on the irritating tune spewing from an ice cream truck as it drove by: "Pop Goes the Weasel". When she saw the driver toss something on her lawn she called the police. "I told them I don't want him in my neighborhood if he's going to litter," she said. An officer stopped by and picked up the object -- an empty malt liquor can -- and tracked down the treat vendor nearby. David A. Blundell, 43, admitted tossing the can, but insisted he had only drunk one beer, for breakfast, two hours before. Police say ...
True or false: The councilwoman is too sweet to be an addict!
Alcoholic Myth-of-the-Month: She's too sweet.
"She couldn't possibly be an addict -- she's a councilperson, a successful mom, has a decent job and donates much of her time to charitable causes.â€
So the thinking seems to have gone in the heads of countless friends and acquaintances of Burbank, California City Councilwoman Stacey Jo Murphy, 47, one of the town's most popular politicians and a favorite of law enforcement, arrested on charges of cocaine possession and child endangerment. Detectives said an 18-month investigation of the Vineland Boyz street gang led them to Murphy's long-time boyfriend, Scott Schaffer, 51, who was arrested on drug and weapons charges, after meth, cocaine, nine handguns and a large amount of ammunition were found at his home. ...
How could anyone be so self-centered?
Dear Doug: Self-centered brother-in-law
Dear Doug,
A few years ago, I married a wonderful guy. Unfortunately, in the bargain, I got his brother -- a rude, overbearing and self-centered man name Patrick. Recently, he asked that we watch his kids while he vacations. We've done this before, but not when we were taking care of his sister, who recently moved in with us when she became very sick with cancer and developed a need for constant care.
When I told him over the phone the timing was not right for baby-sitting, he complained that his sister is a whiner and she has the family wrapped around her finger. After trying to reason with him, he swore at me and hung up.
Doug, over ...
TV show Titus–now on DVD
DVD Review: "Titus"
"My father never missed a drink, or a joint, or a party or a chance to get laid in his life. But he also never missed a day of work, or a house payment, or a car payment."
This is Christopher Titus's description of his father, Ken, played by Stacy Keach, at the start of Episode One on the new DVD release of the first two seasons of the Fox series that began in 2000 (the third and last season will be released in December). It perfectly sets the stage for an honest portrayal of a highly functional but verbally and psychologically abusive alcoholic, based on Christopher's real-life upbringing. His biological mother, Juanita, identified as "insane,"is an even worse ...
Suicide Bombers, amphetamines and other drug use and addiction
Tantalizing Clues to Alcoholism in Suicide Bombers
There's probably addiction somewhere -- but it could be either the bombers -- or the mentors
"I became stronger. I climbed on top of the roof of the car. They gave me a weapon and put some marks on my face. I was no longer human. I could do anything."
--A child-soldier given amphetamines and tranquilizers that enabled him and certain other children to go on murderous binges for days during the Sierra Leone, Africa civil war.
Radical Islam "is not about religion but about domination and control."
--Salman Rushdie, interviewed by Shikha Dalmia in "Reason" magazine, August 2005
The recent string of London bombings brings terrorism close to home in areas we normally consider safe. Yet, ...
Runners-Up for Top Story Aug ’05: Joseph Edward Duncan III, Jose Raul Pena and others
Runners-up for top story of the month: Retired actor Robert Sorrells, 75, who appeared in Westerns and on TV in the 50s and 60s, sentenced to 32 years in prison after confessing to killing Arthur DeLong last year. After drinking at the Regency Lounge in Simi Valley, Ca., he was escorted out by DeLong for "unruly behavior"and, after "reflecting on his perceived mistreatment,"went home, retrieved his gun, returned to the bar and shot DeLong at point blank range. Sorrells admitted his judgment was impaired because of his "biochemical state."Jimmy Lee Smith, 74, one of two men convicted in the 1963 "Onion Field"murder in which LAPD officer Ian Campbell was shot to death, sent back to prison for three years after ...
Under Watch in Aug ’05: public officials
Under watch: Acting San Diego Mayor Michael Zucchet and Councilman Ralph Inzunza, convicted of trading political favors for campaign contributions with a strip-club owner. The 35-year-old Democrats agreed to try and ease the prohibition on nude dancers from touching their customers in exchange for $23,000 in contributions. Deputy Mayor Zucchet had taken over Mayor Dick Murphy's job the previous business day. Murphy had resigned over controversy relating to his handling of the city's $2 billion pension deficit. Six former pension board members face criminal charges of conflict of interest. The question of the decade for the beleaguered city of San Diego, once considered one of the best governed in the country, is who are the addicts?
Note to law enforcers: alcoholics can be unpredictably dangerous
Amazing Antics: Stories of Alcoholism-Driven Behaviorsâ„¢
Just what was the officer thinking?
"THE GLAMOROUS SIDE OF DRINKING: A trooper investigating a single-car accident in Woodville, Maine, says that driver Peter Bradley Murray, 42, appeared intoxicated and had urinated on himself. But he could still see straight. "He said, 'You have beautiful green eyes,' and he started touching my arm," State Trooper Jennifer Fiske said. She started to handcuff him, but only got one side on when he pulled away and tried to lock her in the other cuff, saying "I just want us to be tied together." She whacked him with her baton and finished cuffing him. "What did he think I was going to do? Go out on a date ...
True or not true: The family can do more to stem drug use
Alcoholic Myth-of-the-Month: It's the families' fault
"The family can do more than the law in stemming drug use."
"I'm going to continue to make a hard run at the families of these gang members. You are responsible, partially, for the lack of help your child gets.â€
So said Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, stepping up his pressure on parents to take responsibility for their children in the wake of the cold-blooded murder of Deputy Jerry Ortiz, allegedly by known gang member Jose Luis Orozco.
One of the more obvious problems with this is that Orozco is 27. His parents, described as "religious and hard-working"by a former neighbor who was "offended"by Baca's remarks, moved to Las Vegas two years ago to get away ...
Party-hardy momma
Dear Doug: Party-hardy momma
Dear Doug:
My mother owns a successful business, but she's hanging out with a crowd of divorcees who drag her to bars. We share a car and I suspect her of smoking, which she denies. After dad leaves for work at night I see mom doing a lot of drinking. When I confront her about my concerns, she makes up excuses and goes further to hide her problems and booze. I'm told that people abuse alcohol because they are depressed, but we had a great family life until recently. What do you suggest I do?
Signed, Concerned Daughter
. . . . . .
Dear Concerned Daughter,
Other columnists might suggest that while your parents need professional help, ...
Anti-Drug War movies
The war on drugs allows the worst to create untold wealth
Movie Review: "Batman Begins," "A License to Kill," and "Trafficâ€
You wouldn't think a comic strip hero, James Bond and a movie about drug trafficking would have something in common. Yet each, in its own way, reinforces the idea that illegality creates high prices not only worth killing over, but also untold billions for those willing to take extraordinary risks.
The biggest risk-takers are alcohol and other drug addicts. Distortions of perception cause impaired judgment. In particular, the addict comes to think he can do no wrong, which creates a sense of invincibility. A "rules don't apply to me"attitude often becomes all-pervasive. This can be observed in many addicts that, no ...
The focus of the War on Drugs needs to be narrowed
It's time to narrow the focus of the war on drugs
Top Story: Everyone suffers from the war,
except the drug lords
"Prohibition is an awful flop. We like it.
It can't stop what it's meant to stop. We like it.
It's left a trail of graft and slime,
It don't prohibit worth a dime,
It's filled our land with vice and crime.
Nevertheless, we're for it."
" Franklin P. Adams (1931)
Hoping to appease a violent minority of coca farmers organized by Evo Morales, two Bolivian presidents have stepped down from office in two years, the latest in June. In a seemingly unrelated development, also in June, police Commander Enrique Cardenas, responsible for policing the Mexican town of Nuevo Laredo across the border from Laredo, Texas, was ...
Runners-Up for July ’05: Russell Crowe, Michael Lohan, Michael Jackson and plenty of others
Runners-up for top story of the month: Russell Crowe, whose wife Daniell Spencer had already asked him to stop drinking because it "seems to make him so aggressive,"assaulting a New York hotel employee with a phone and blaming it on "jet lag, loneliness and adrenaline."He explained that he was trying to call his wife to let her know that "I'm at home, I'm in bed, I haven't had too much to drink and, primely important, that I'm alone."At 4 a.m. He wore very dark sunglasses as he was escorted out in handcuffs. At 4 a.m. (A week later he was spotted joking about the incident -- while drinking at a Canadian pub.) Nineteen-year-old Sydney Simpson, following in her famous father's ...
Under Watch: Eliot Spitzer, Alberto Vilar and others
Under watch: New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, finally confronted in the courtroom by one of his business targets, former Bank of America broker Theodore Sihpol, in a match reminiscent of David and Goliath. The jury found Sihpol's after-market-close trading, which Mr. Spitzer called criminal, to be commonly accepted practice. Sihpol was acquitted on 29 counts, with the jury hung on four others, for which a single juror held out for conviction. Sihpol had refused a plea offer that included jail time, putting himself at risk for a 30-year term. Other business targets have caved into Spitzer's prosecution-by-press-release and threats of indictment or the destruction of an entire company, paying enormous fines (often with shareholder funds). None had previously risked ...
Looting, thuggery and addiction in New Orleans
I may expand on this for the Addiction Report, but here are my initial thoughts:
I recently asked some recovering addict gang members what percentage of gang-bangers are addicts. They all agreed at 100%. I think we can safely conclude almost all of the thuggery in New Orleans is, therefore, committed by addicts.
Addicts are capable of anything. The looters--who later graduated to violence and arson--needed to be stopped without compromise from the start. Better yet, we need to act to get gang members clean and sober now, before disasters occur. Only in our worst nightmares can we imagine the consequences to civil society of an 8.0 earthquake in Los Angeles.