Author Ann Rule write about it, but doesn’t “get it”
I wrote the following and received a response, which follows. My original post is on her guest book at www.AnnRules.com page 173 in the current guest book, which will be Guest Book 28 (yes, she is popular).
“Comments by Doug Thorburn on Monday, January 10, 2005 at 17:46 IP Logged
Dear Ms. Rule,
Numerous behavioral indications of alcohol and other drug addiction for Allen Blackthorne are cited in Every Breath You Take, including power-seeking misbehaviors ranging from pathological lying to manipulative charm. There are at least two dozen other behavioral symptoms, including serial adultery, domestic violence, telephonitis and manic mood swings. Blackthorne was also the child of two alcoholics, which dramatically increases the odds of inheriting the disease. Yet, you vacillate on his actual use of alcohol and other drugs. At one point you write he would “sometimes”get into “alcohol or drugs;”at another, Guy’s feeling that he never drank to “excess”is cited, even while Uncle Tom Oliver “saw Allen drunk on many occasions.”You also wrote that, apparently, “Allen was able to turn any excessive drinking on and off,”which suggests bingeing.
In addition, Allen’s comments in regards to Demerol, an opioid, were noteworthy. It takes very little Demerol combined with other drugs (including the drug alcohol) to create a euphoric “I am God”high for the addict. His comment to the teacher of the student worker also spoke volumes (if he were seventeen he’d be “high on Demerol”all day), as did the comment by the veteran reporter that Allen appeared to be heavily tranquilized in court.
I think Allen may have been a periodic drunk who used other drugs. A clue as to why he wasn’t more obvious can be found in the fact he suffered liver damage as a child: he simply couldn’t use as much as he would have liked. And, like Josef Stalin, he couldn’t be seen as a “common drunk”and expect to maintain power.
Are you aware of any other evidence of addictive use that may have surfaced after publication? Was there anything in particular I may have missed? And, most important, was he a heavy beer-drinking golfer?
Doug Thorburn
Behavioral addiction expert and fellow author
United States ”
She responded:
” Hi,
If you have some time to read all of my 24 books, you will find that many of the killers I have written about used alcohol–perhaps to loosen their inhibitions. This includes Ted Bundy. I wish I had time to go through all of them to mark the cases and pages for you, but I just don’t. You can find a list of my books on my website at www.annrules.com .
Thanks for understanding my time constraints,
All Best”
I responded:
“Hi Ann,
Thanks for responding. I know how busy you must be. Non-alcoholics sometimes use alcohol to loosen inhibitions. Alcoholics drink addictively because they can, which does far more than this. As a non-alcoholic yourself (I suspect), just try drinking beyond a .12 per cent BAL without feeling nauseous and appearing to others as obviously drunk. Alcoholics don’t even show the classic signs of inebriation until the BAL reaches a level as high as .24 per cent and never feel sick from the drinking until at least the next day, if ever. Due to a buildup of poison that does _not_ occur in non-alcoholics, bad behaviors _result_ from addictive use. The enormous range of misbehaviors may seem confusing, yet the same biochemistry that causes some to only belittle others causes a few to commit heinous crimes. Alcoholism doesn’t reduce inhibitions; it _changes_ the personality and, hence, the behaviors. My theme, Ann, is that in almost every case, the Ted Bundy’s of the world wouldn’t continue to act badly past childhood (if at all) if alcoholism was arrested at or near inception. Therefore, we can often prevent the tragedy through early proactive intervention, which requires that we identify addiction long before the “accepted” definition (loss of control over use) allows.”
I didn’t hear back.