NANCY THURMOND JOINS CLEMSON IN EFFORTS TO CONQUER ADDICTIONS

CLEMSON -- As her husband leaves his legendary career in public service,
Nancy Moore Thurmond is joining Clemson University in a statewide fight
against addiction.

The Nancy Moore Thurmond Initiative on Substance Abuse will be directed at
many types of addiction, from alcoholism to gambling. Thurmond is married
to Strom Thurmond, who has retired to Edgefield after serving 48 years in
the U.S. Senate.

Nancy Thurmond, a recovering alcoholic, said those in recovery have a
responsibility to reach out to others who need help.

"If we can see ourselves as others see us, we all have a little addict
running around inside us," she said.

The initiative, led by Clemson, aims to keep researchers, policy-makers,
and service-providers on the cutting edge in addiction prevention and recovery.

Twenty board members, representing 34 drug and alcohol abuse programs, met
for the first time Friday.

Thurmond said she found herself drinking and driving even after her
23-year-old daughter, Nancy Moore, was killed by a drunken driver in 1993.
The message resonated with Bob Toomey, interim director of the Department
of Health and Human Services.

"I have the life I lived when addicted and the life I live in recovery," he
said. People in the recovery community "are walking miracles," he said.

The initiative could become a clearinghouse of research and policy
evaluation in the Southeast, said Clemson Mayor Larry Abernathy, who
developed the idea. Abernathy is an assistant professor in addiction
counseling at Clemson and a retired addiction counselor.

"There is a virtually immeasurable amount of expertise in this room," he said.

Partners in the program include the Department of Alcohol and Other Drug
Abuse Services, the Norman J. Arnold School of Public Health at the
University of South Carolina, the Medical University of South Carolina,
South Carolina State University and the American Lung Association.