Apparently the only thing Miguel Cabrera, star of the Detroit Tigers, could hit last Saturday was his wife.

Cue the TDA monologue and laugh track…

(1). He went 0-4 stranding 6 men on base in a game that would have clinched the American League Central; so he may have struck out at the plate but earlier in the day he scored a trip to the police station for hitting his wife. (2). He might have been legally sober by the time he blew the game, but only 13 hours earlier he had blown a .26 BAC- he was over three times the legal limit.

… and then cut to the chase.

This is the insanity of substance abuse. Cabrera has an eye-popping $141 million contract, yet this is the second time in a month he has risked all with his drunken behavior. Oh sure, he doesn’t have a problem… anyone in their right mind would risk a multi-million dollar contract for a fun night of inebriation, brawling, spousal abuse, and some intimate time with the police!

Daniel Samplaski drank a twelve pack and decided he was going to take his motorized scooter for a spin… down the interstate! Luckily for him though, he lives in Wisconsin where the drunks are plentiful and the DUI laws are lax. Yeah, yeah, I know that state law makers have been debating stiffer penalties for some time now. These include ignition interlocks which require a sobriety test before vehicle activation, but obviously they need to move quickly.

Of course if the new measures do pass, I want to know if Mr. Samplaski will be required to get an ignition interlock on his Hoveround?

Tonight I’m going to pull one from the drunk file, these are relevant videos and stories I’ve favorited and saved in case unexpected events threaten to keep me from writing a regular update. On the road and a little overloaded by the real job, I can think of no better time to use one from the emergency stash. My favorites are in the first episode when the guy says “I can do this” and then in the very last when the lady asks if the police officer can be “more specific” about when the camera was recording.

These aired on TruTV which is all about shocking reality videos, but they just might as well call it drunkTV since most of the antics caught on tape are alcohol related… of course it should come to no surprise that alcohol is the common thread that runs through many acts of neglect, abuse, crime, violence, and just sheer stupidity.

The change in administrations really has the drug legalization cheerleaders out on the offensive. LEAP gets more press than most because of their law enforcement ties, but I get tired of hearing this nonsense.

If we legalize and regulate the marketplace, economic rules will work in our favor, making it possible to instill control. It is time to fund education, research and treatment instead of jails and prisons. We all want a better future for our children and ourselves. ~ Law Enforcement Against Prohibition

It’s just another article covering the litany of “known facts” including how organized crime ended with prohibition and alcohol abuse is treated today as a medical issue… yeah, right. As the man says though, legalization akin to the regulation of alcohol would make it possible to “instill control”- with over 100,000 deaths per year attributed to alcohol- now that’s control I wouldn’t want to brag about!

Click “Read more” to continue…

• 5% of all deaths from diseases of the circulatory system are attributed to alcohol.
• 15% of all deaths from diseases of the respiratory system are attributed to alcohol.
• 30% of all deaths from accidents caused by fire and flames are attributed to alcohol.
• 30% of all accidental drownings are attributed to alcohol.
• 30% of all suicides are attributed to alcohol.
• 40% of all deaths due to accidental falls are attributed to alcohol.
• 45% of all deaths in automobile accidents are attributed to alcohol.
• 60% of all homicides are attributed to alcohol.
Link

I will not trust any of these guys stressing “education, research, and treatment instead of jails” until they make this a reality for the already legal scourge alcohol. Yes I feel we could improve the way we fight drugs in this nation but until we can get a handle on our current situation, legalization is nothing but surrender.

Bradley Jardis has joined a small group of current and retired law enforcement/criminal justice officials of a Massachusetts-based nonprofit organization called Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, or LEAP. LEAP was formed to advocate the legalization and regulation of drugs as an alternative to what they describe a “failed war on drugs”. Jardis, in a recent MSNBC article states the following:

Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never–in nothing, great or small, large or petty–never give in, except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy. ~ Winston Churchill

It’s not a very a popular stance to take these days, but when discussing the war on drugs I am an unabashed hawk. Its has become a highly debated topic with both sides predictably skewing data and making “supported” assumptions in their arguments but IMHO most fall short of making a good case.

I’ll keep this short, the reasoning behind my support for the war on drugs is that legalization will eventually create the same acceptance and high tolerance we have for societal ills caused by alcohol. It’s not a family of origin issue, but a culture of origin issue- we glorify the use of alcohol yet downplay the tremendous resulting damage (abuse, neglect, poverty, crime, health issues, death, etc.).

Yes, I think the war could be waged more effectively with better tactics; there is always room for improvement. Yes, I think treatment should be stressed whenever possible, and no I am not advocating prohibition as the only solution. But I will never, never, never give in to increasing the availability and acceptance of a whole new class of intoxicants until our society learns how to better handle the ones that are already legal!

After ordering takeout from Del Taco, a Colorado couple were surprised to find among the taco sauce and other condiments a small bag of pot. They notified police who then arrested 26 year-old Dennis Klermund at the restaurant, it goes without saying that he was also fired.

Yes the story is funny, but it also serves as a great example of how casually people break the law and risk arrest, fines, jail, injury and even death that are inherent with drug and alcohol abuse. The above idiot was so nonchalant about his drug use that not only did he goof up an intended drug transaction; he left the rest of his dope and paraphernalia in his work locker where the police dogs promptly found it. Duh!

Before you laugh too hard at this moron, try a little introspection yourself.

Click “Read more” to see what I came up with…

It didn’t take long for me to realize that my pre-recovery constant drunk driving was something that I was more than casual about, and the repercussions of this activity could have been exponentially worse than getting busted for possession. Even though people could have died, including myself, I accepted the risk of this behavior as if it was nothing more than chancing getting caught in the rain without an umbrella.

More? Yes, probably much more than I can remember. I know that we sold drugs out of our apartment and had on many occasions enough stashed in the house to send us all to the big house… we thought that was “cool”. Same goes for guns. In my sobriety, I do not know how anyone could consider theft as a causal act, but somehow I pulled it off back then.

The real kicker for all of this is that jail or death is usually the only things that can jolt us into seeing the severity of a situation brought on by substance abuse. For those of us who are really good at it, we can drink and drug ourselves right back into acceptance within a matter of days after a close call or even tragedy. Then there are those that have never had a problem, yet. I have professional acquaintances; those respected in the community- that still perform these acts of casual criminal stupidity on a weekly basis like buying pot and drunk driving.

You never know when one of these pillars of the community will become the next headline news moron. Who knew something so casual could bring such serious grief?

I did.

Man has been brewing and distilling alcoholic beverages for thousands of years, but Mother Nature has been doing it for much longer through the natural fermentation of fruit. Fat Boy, a very ugly pony in Cornwall, happened into just such a natural phenomenon when he ate a stash of fermented apples and then became trapped after he stumbled drunk into a neighborhood pool. No harm no foul for the four legged boozer who was able to exit the pool via some hay bale steps after sobering up.

The same thing can’t be said for Wayne Forrester of London who proved just how much damage a drunk can do when he has opposable thumbs.

Click “Read more” to continue…

Wayne Forrester, 34, drank alcohol and took cocaine before driving 15 miles to the family home to attack wife Emma as she lay in bed. The couple had separated four days before the murder in February and Forrester later told police he had been provoked by his wife changing her marital status to “single” on her Facebook entry, the court heard. ~ DailyMail

He didn’t just attack her, he killed her- chopped her up with a meat cleaver. Fat Boy the pony has a good excuse for gorging on fermented apples and shambling off into some mischief. He doesn’t know any better, but humanity continues this romance with drugs and alcohol, this catalyst for death and mayhem with eyes wide open and an appetite for punishment.

Who’s the dumb animal here?

The UK Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) was set up in 1964 to make payments to those unlucky enough to become a victim of violent crime. A recent rape victim has had her compensation slashed because apparently the CICA deemed her intoxication may have played a part in provoking the incident. Doesn’t it sound like the CICA is implying that she was asking for it?

Her case is not unique, in at least 14 cases this year payments have been reduced to rape victims apparently because CICA must have also found part of the problem due to their drinking. Even though the CICA denies that it place blame on the victims, the wording of their own compensation statement seems to contradict this statement.

The issue came to light after one rape victim, referred to only as Helen, received a letter from the CICA saying her compensation was being cut from £11,000 to £8,250. It said: ‘The evidence that we have shows that your excessive consumption of alcohol was a contributing factor in the incident’. ~ DailyMail

Click “Read more” to continue…

Obviously the CICA is now under some intense scrutiny and has already been forced to overturn the ruling in Helen’s case and many more are sure to follow. Although I can see the reasoning, however flawed, behind their initial stance in these cases- it is difficult to believe that these officials could be so dense, and it took so long before they were called on it.

One thing that I will point out though is the fact that drinking reduces one’s situational awareness and compromises decision making. TDA is no fool, I wouldn’t dream of placing any blame at the feet of these victims… but I cannot help but wonder if they had been sober would they have been able to successfully fend off the attacker or avoided the dangerous environment in the first place.

The Lamia was a queen in Greek mythology that was transformed into a child devouring fiend after her own children were murdered. It was believed that she was cursed with the inability to ever close her eyes so that she would forever be haunted by the images of the slain children.

I was reminded of the long suffering Lamia after a reader sent me this story with a note saying that literally there would be hell to pay when those responsible sobered up. There is a small part of me that thinks maybe they should not even try.

WARSAW — A newborn baby girl died
after being thrown from a third-story window
in the Polish capital, apparently by a drunken
relative, police said Tuesday. ~ Fox News

Click “Read more” to continue…

The child, still with umbilical cord attached, was snatched up by onlookers and rushed to the hospital where it soon died from sustained injuries. Those responsible, “all three adults had large amounts of alcohol in their blood” including the baby’s mother, remained barricaded in the upstairs apartment forcing police to enter through the balcony. Prosecutors stated that it was not clear who actually threw the baby to its death because of the drunken state of the accused.

Even though I quite often stress the tragic consequences of alcohol and substance abuse, I try my best to remind others that there is always hope for recovery and redemption. This is one of the rare cases where I am really struggling to see a future in which sobriety for these individuals would offer any solace. How will these people responsible ever be able to live with this heinous act?

Are there obstacles to recovery just too great to overcome? As a recovering alcoholic I would like to say no, but this tragedy has me seriously skeptical.