I’m sad to read about the young man killed at the Medicine Shoppe. Mostly, I am sad for his family. They lost a son, a brother, an uncle. While the news media and townspeople vilify him for having an illness, what some people fail to take into account is that most addicts don’t chose to be addicts but once hooked on something, drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, and even food which most of us have battled at one time or another, the habits are almost impossible to break.
Their families do not choose the addiction but they go along for a very bumpy ride complete with the derision of their neighbors for the child’s actions. Until you have walked in these people’s shoes, please think twice before condemning them. Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater as they used to say.
Many of these families have done everything they can to get their loved freed from their addiction. They have turned them in to police hoping a short jail term would break the habit but they get out and start all over. They try and try to enroll them in programs to treat the problem but there are so few and the waiting list usually is longer than the child’s lifespan at the rate they are addicted.
A two-week program isn’t long enough to change their behavior either. The treatment programs need to be longer with graduations to halfway houses, where they learn to be on their own again free of the addiction.
Believe me, I know whereof I speak. A family member spent weeks in a mental ward where the nurse told us most of the people walking around with vacant stares like him were there for alcoholism and the very day he was released he went directly to a bar and got drunk. The behavior is difficult for others who don't live with this type of behavior to understand. After I saw those poor vacant-eyed people in the ward, I didn’t ever want a drink again but not him.
Many addicts are often left to themselves, abandoned by loved ones who can't deal with them. And as usual, with government budget cuts, programs to help addicts lack sufficient funding to make a difference.
Addicts cause many crimes to feed their habits. With more treatment programs and more successes the crimes would go down and stop overworking our understaffed police departments. That’s a "win-win" as I see it.
Finally, I also feel sad for the ex-police officer security man who was forced to shoot this young man. Even though he did what he had to do to protect the pharmacist he still has to live the rest of his life knowing he killed another human being. He’s being patted on the back for a job well done, but inside he must be sick to his stomach. I’m sure nightmares will be with him for some time to come.
Instead of instant condemnation of entire families at times like these, why don’t we start instant support for their pain? Bring food, give hugs, and listen as they talk about the days when the child was still sober and loving. Remember: Judge not lest ye be judged.