TAYLOR WAS WRONG TO BLAME ALL ADDICTS' PARENTS

I felt compelled to respond to the statements Bob Taylor made in The
Times' special report on heroin. I respect Bob's work as the Porter
County Drug Task Force coordinator. That he is expected to perform
this important and difficult mission with little manpower and abysmal
funds is appalling. That needs to be changed.

However, I was stunned by statements he made concerning parents. He
declared that 100 percent of the drug problems of young people is the
parents' fault. I find that statement to be 100 percent incorrect!
For instance, in our home:

* My husband and I have never been "all wrapped up in our big paying
jobs." I am an elementary school teacher, for heaven's sake. I don't
make big bucks!

* "Never at home"? We were always home!

* "Have all this money (from their parents)"? Manda was working three
jobs to make her own money!

* "No parental involvement"? My husband and I were always involved in
Manda's life. Manda was the most important person to her dad and me!

I took Bob's statements very personally. Bob, of all people, should
know drug addiction is a complex societal problem. However, he
painted all people addicted to drugs and their families with a hugely
broad brush.

How can his statements possibly be universally accurate?

As parents, we love our children so very deeply. However,
drug-addicted people have one person to hold responsible for their
addiction, and that person is themselves. Before she died from a
heroin overdose, my daughter, Manda said she had only herself to
blame (for her drug use).

Phyllis Spitler, Valparaiso, mother of Manda Marie Spitler, who died
at age 20 of a heroin overdose on March 31, 2002