CONSEQUENCES OF SUBSTANCE ABUSE

Dear Editor:

This is written in response to the two letters to the editor published
in the Brownwood Bulletin, April 28 by Tom McDaniel and May 1 by
Trease Burke.

In the 23 years of marriage to your former Brown County Judge and 35th
District Attorney, and now Early City Judge, I too, can attest to the
emotional, financial and issues of personal safety in homes and on the
highways, of recreational drug, prescription drug abuse, tobacco and
alcohol consumption. These matters of "personal choice" have caused
untold numbers of families in the 35th District to suffer financially,
emotionally and placing all in their way in jeopardy, in so many ways.

When "an officer of the court," who has taken an oath to uphold the
law, is on call, he or she will frequently receive five phone calls in
the wee hours of the morning from law enforcement officials. They must
go and read the rights to these offenders, at all hours, represent
them for potential prosecution and generally, interrupt restful hours
of sleep and greatly needed time with their own families.

As a former nurse in Houston, I have witnessed grown men walk into the
emergency room of Ben Taub Hospital, under the influence of all sorts
of chemicals, with 22 caliber bullets, riddling their bodies, and yet
they are still alive. These men and women are combative and violent
and place all medical personnel in great danger, trying to save the
patient's lives. My brother, a 1968 graduate of BHS and a retired
physician now living in Abilene was the head of emergency medicine for
the City of Houston, back in the '70s. On a normal day in Houston, he
would have to make life and death decisions as "to who would live and
who would die today." I can tell you that in one day, with or without
rain on the highways, 200 or more decisions of this nature, would have
to be made by these physicians, or their representatives, with respect
to traffic accidents, gun shot wounds, drug overdoses, crimes of
violence, rape etc.

The pivotal question, which could send a person in need of immediate
emergency care to the nearest hospital would be... "Were drugs or
alcohol involved?" If the answer was yes, these patients, were sent to
the "back of the line, " in the computer main-frame list, at the
Triage Unit Command Control Center of Houston. The next question, and
my favorite,"Are children involved and were they wearing their seat
belt?" These people were moved to the head of the list, for immediate
emergency room care to the nearest hospital.

So, as a former Traffic Safety Specialist for the Governor's Office of
Traffic Safety, a former member of the State Board of Texas of
Mother's Against Drunk Driving, an instructor of defensive driving
classes in Houston and Brownwood for 16 years, a former motivational
speaker to Fortune 500 companies and a former nurse and wife to an
officer of the court, and a mother to two sons, one learning to drive
now, I can tell you, without reservation, I have very little respect
nor patience with anyone who chooses to use any substance, either
recreationally or with general "maintenance" consumption, which may
jeopardize the personal safety of the general public, themselves, or
their own families.

The baby boomers were exposed to the drug culture, that is true, and
they choose to promulgate it, to this day. It has been said, people
choose to do drugs, alcohol or tobacco..."to kill the pain," and to
"self-medicate" what ever personal circumstance life has doled to
them. It is time for baby boomers to grow up and face the changes of
this difficult world and face "our" own sorrows, disappointments,
griefs etc. head on.

There is a reason it is called, the World War II veterans, "The
Greatest Generation." We "boomers" should befriend all we can, of that
era, before they die off, and as soon as we can, and learn how to deal
with life's stresses as they. Both of my parents are veterans of the
Navy, and I can tell you they have raised two fine children and given
both of us all the love, support and compassion and educations,
necessary to make my brother, the doctor and myself, upstanding
citizens of this great country and respectful of it and this
community. Their influences on their grandchildren are golden and priceless.

There is no one, in my learned estimation of 51 years, more selfish,
more inconsiderate, and more totally self-absorbed and negligent for
their own health and financial concerns, and that of their families,
than a drug abuser, alcoholic or smoker.

Sheryl Arthur Haney

Brownwood