Ashley Smith, Addiction and Heroism
Society’s icons are often alcoholics
Stories from “This is True”by Randy Cassingham, with his “tagline:â€
“THE DRUG-DRIVEN LIFE: After Brian Nichols grabbed a deputy’s gun and shot his way out of the courthouse in Fulton County, Ga., killing four people, Ashley Smith was hailed as a hero. Smith, who Nichols took hostage in her own apartment after his rampage, told police how she convinced him to surrender by talking about God and reading aloud from the book, The Purpose-Driven Life. Now, Smith is putting out her own book which details how she really got Nichols to cooperate: she gave him her supply of crystal methamphetamine. Smith admits she was a meth addict and had used the drug hours before she was taken hostage. ‘Do you smoke it? How do you do it?’ Nichols asked her when she handed her stash over. She prepared the drug for him so he could snort it. ‘You gave him drugs, Ashley,’ she said to herself at the time, but, she says now, ‘God led me to do that.’ Smith received $70,000 in rewards for capturing Nichols, and says she no longer takes drugs. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) …Someday, maybe we’ll revere people who succeeded without ever getting addicted to drugs, rather than people who overcame them after being showered with money and fame.”
Randy observes something that seems inexplicable, until we understand the overriding need of the addict to inflate his or her ego. Society often reveres and enables the over achieving addict with money and fame. Unfortunately, the addict is protected from consequences, leading to continued use and oftentimes death; long-term sobriety is rare when the money keeps rolling in. Think of Marilyn, Elvis, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Belushi and all-too-many others.
Somehow in the case of Ashley Smith, her ordeal turned out to be her bottom”at least so far. But then, she had already likely been scraping the bottom after losing custody of her five-year-old daughter, spending time in a psychiatric hospital and a serious injury from a drug-induced car crash. Bottoming is a process and the example of Ashley Smith just goes to show, we never know what will trigger the need to finally stay clean and sober. It also shows that addicts can get away with dealing with other addicts in ways the rest of us probably can’t.
And talk about seemingly heroic behavior that needs no comment:
“SSSSAFETY LASSSST: Stephen Sodones, 62, spotted a snake alongside the road in Jefferson, N.J., and worried that it would get run over when it crossed, so he picked it up to carry it across himself. The snake, a venomous copperhead, bit him for his trouble. Three times. His condition was listed as ‘critical but improving’ and he is expected to live. ‘It was a good thing to do,’ said venomous snake expert Joe Abene about the case, ‘but the wrong way to do it. What the heck was he thinking?’ (Newark Star-Ledger) …While everyone else wondered, ‘What the heck was he drinking?'”
(Story from “This is True,”copyright 2005 by Randy Cassingham, used with permission.)
Visit www.thisistrue.com for free subscriptions.