SONS TROUBLES GIVE PERSPECTIVE ON DRUGS, JUSTICE

In July, while I was in Washington, D.C., I received the telephone call
that every parent fears. My child had been missing for several days, and no
one knew where he was. Like any parent, I turned to local law enforcement
professionals to help find my son.

This was not the first time my son had disappeared, or been in trouble.
Morgan, who is now 21, has struggled with drug addiction and dealt with the
troubles caused by that addiction most of his young-adult life. This has
taken its toll on Morgan and our family -- he has been in treatment and he
has been in jail. Today, more than four months after my worried phone call,
the press has publicly scrutinized my son's misdeeds. With the
investigation and facts of the case being little more than an aside, the
press has forced my family to endure an ongoing public airing of our pain
and of the problems of a troubled child. That is wrong.

My public actions, positions and votes as an elected official are open to
comments, questions, praise or criticism. The action I took to find my son,
however, was done as a father -- not as a U.S. senator.

But I am adamant that from this pain will come some good. And if that good
is tougher laws that protect our children from drugs -- if it is one fewer
son or daughter sucked into the devastation that our family has experienced
- -- then I will continue to work for what I know is right.

As a legislator, my job is to make tough decisions about the laws and
penalties I believe will protect our families from drugs and criminals and
the devastation they leave in their wake. I am charged with trying to
protect our kids, and young men like Morgan, from ever having drugs -- and
the havoc they cause -- come into their lives.

I know from personal experience the helpless pain that parents and siblings
feel when a child is addicted to drugs. I know the fear they live with that
their child will end up in jail or dead.

As a father, the decisions are just as hard. How do I help my son?
Treatment? Discipline? Incarceration? Love? Prayers? Commitment? Yes.

The truth is, as a parent, you never stop wanting the best for your child.
In Morgan's case, we have been through it all. We have prayed and we have
yelled. We have counseled him through treatment and we have stood by him as
he suffered the consequences of his actions in jail.

And we are not done. We have a long road yet ahead. We will continue to do
what we can to save him. We will pray for him and love him -- we will
support him and stand by him through whatever punishment and treatment he
may need for recovery.

As a lawmaker, I know the decisions I make about tough drug laws may affect
my son. As a father, I know that without those laws my son might be even
worse off than he is now. I also know that I want to do all I can to ensure
that no other family faces this kind of destruction and heartbreak.

Each time my telephone rings, my heart stops for a moment, for I live with
the fear that this time someone is calling to tell me my son's addiction
has cost my child his life. That is a terrible fear to live with. I pray
that no other parent or family will have to live with that kind of fear and
pain.

That is why I will continue the fight to rid our nation of drugs and to
protect our children.