HELP FAMILIES STRUGGLING WITH DRUG ABUSE

As the January 2004 Kentucky legislative session begins, state Rep.
Tom Kerr will be introducing a bill for the second time. Kerr was
asked to sponsor this bill after the death of our 23-year-old son,
Casey, due to a chronic, relapsing disease.

We would have gone to any lengths to stop the progression of our son's
disease. However, by law, we were not permitted to force him to stay
in a treatment program, which could have encouraged his recovery. He
was legally an adult who had the right to make his own choices.
Regardless of the fact that his development had been stunted, and even
though he wasn't functioning as a normal young adult and his thinking
was irrational, he legally continued to make his own distorted
decisions. We watched as his disease took over his whole existence. It
hijacked his brain, stole his spirit and finally destroyed his body.
The disease did not stop until it took it all.

Our son succumbed to his disease after lying in a coma for 10 days. On
Aug. 19, 2002, Casey died following his third and final heroin
overdose. Casey lost his fight with the disease of drug addiction. His
battle was over, while in many ways ours was just beginning.

The Matthew Casey Wethington Act for Substance Abuse Intervention is
an act that will allow parents, relatives and/or friends to petition
the court for involuntary treatment for their substance-abuse-impaired
loved one who is 18 or older. At this time, Kentucky law only allows
intervention for minors. This petition would be followed by an
evaluation of the substance-abuse-impaired individual by health
professionals, and the petitioner would accept responsibility for the
cost of treatment.

Our legislators will be faced with myriad bills this legislative
session, and ours will be among them. When you consider the deaths
that have occurred in the last year due to drug abuse, and the many
families that are still struggling with this disease, I think you will
see the importance of getting this bill passed into law. If you don't,
then more than likely your life has not yet been touched by this
insidious disease.

Charlotte Wethington

Jim Wethington

Morning View, Ky. 41063