"The allure of drugs is very tempting and anybody can fall, even someone
that's older, supposedly educated, professional."
-- Rep. Ron Corbett

A PAINFUL LESSON ON PERIL OF DRUGS

Crack cocaine can overpower anyone. Even a middle-age nurse. Even a
grandmother. Even the mother of one of Iowa's top legislative leaders.

Just ask Ron Corbett, speaker of the Iowa House of Representatives.

"The allure of drugs is very tempting and anybody can fall, even someone
that's older, supposedly educated, professional," Corbett said Thursday.

"It just isn't a problem that faces the inner city."

Corbett's mother, Mary, a hospital nurse, fell hard for the highly
addictive drug.

"After several months of heavy using, going to crack cocaine parties and
running out of money, she finally hit rock bottom," Corbett, a Cedar Rapids
Republican said in an interview Thursday.

"Her boyfriend found her in a bathroom, lying on the floor and aspirin all
over the place. I don't think she was trying to commit suicide. I think
she was trying to relieve some of the pain that she was having."

But this story, which Corbett shared this week with reporters, lawmakers
and others, has a happy ending.

His mother, now 57, was treated for her addiction and has recovered.

She is again working as a nurse in the Washington, D.C., area.

"She's back to her old self and the mother I've always known her to be, but
there was that time that she wasn't. Drugs changed her," he said.

Mary Corbett could not be reached for comment.

Ron Corbett's House colleagues said it just goes to show that members of
the Legislature are no different from the people they represent; they come
face to face with the same family crises.

"Everybody has problems, and that's reflected in this place," said Rep.

Christopher Rants, R-Sioux City. "I think people's hearts go out to Ron
and are supportive of him."

Rep. Teresa Garman, R-Ames, said: "I know this can happen in any family.

.. Ron has a great deal of strength."

Corbett already had plenty on his mind five years ago as the new chairman
of the House Appropriations Committee. He was trying to get a grip on the
state budget when his mother started calling him at the Statehouse, asking
for money to buy food.

"I had numerous phone calls from her begging me for money, and I gave into
her once. When I refused to give into her (again), the phone calls turned
vicious ... like, 'Why aren't you helping your mother out? I've helped you
out all your life. Why don't you help me out in my time of need?'"

Corbett, who learned his mother used the money to buy drugs, conferred with
family members. "We felt the only way to help her was by not helping her,
that she's got to get to the point that she's going to decide she's going
to fight this addiction and seek help," said Corbett, who has two sisters.

"We talked all the time: 'What can we do? What can we do?' We looked
into ways to get her committed. All we could do was hope and pray that,
she would eventually seek treatment before she completely destroyed her
life and died from it."

Mary Corbett was divorced from Ron Corbett's father nearly two decades ago.
Ron Corbett, who has four children, said his mother had met a hospital
patient, with a history of drug abuse and he later became her boyfriend.

"She started using crack cocaine on the weekends, and then it turned to
every evening, and then it turned into all the time," Corbett said.

Mary Corbett finally got treatment and started back on the road to
recovery. But, her son said, "it's not an easy journey for anyone. She
was facing a lot of difficulty. She had to go through bankruptcy, she had
maxed out her credit cards and put everything she had in hock.
...

"She made it. She's one of the few that have been able to kick the habit,
and she's back working as a nurse and she's got her life back in order."

His mother's ordeal has taught Corbett as much about drug abuse as all the
debates he's heard about the problem in six House terms.

"We need to do everything we can to educate not just young people but all
of our citizens. We need to help those that are addicted to seek
treatment," he said. "But most of all, we need to punish those that prey
on people and entice them into using drugs."

Jonathan Roos can be reached at roosj@news.dmreg.com or (515) 284-8443.