My post in GD On Patrick Kennedy

[saracat]

For the record. My experience with Patrick Kennedy.
Edited on Fri May-05-06 05:47 PM by saracat
Patrick Kennedy, to my personal observation, does NOT drink to excess. I had the privilege of being with Mr. Kennedy at three events on one day in Arizona during the 2004 campaign. All events featured cocktails.And I got Patrick whatever he wanted to drink. His drink of choice was "bottled water' and he drove himself. I believe his story about the medications. My Dad , who was also a government official, was also prescribed medication that caused him to have an accident taking out a row of mailboxes on our street. He was on his way to pick me up and was arrested for "driving under the influence of a narcotic drug". The charges were dropped but he was very lucky not to have killed himself or others. The Doctor never told him NOT to drive and refused to cut his dosage when informed of the accident. I flushed those pills down the toilet.
I believe Kennedy's story to be the truth.But some I am sure will flame away.

[TayTay]

1. I wish he had taken the breathalyzer test

I really do. He could be clean as a whistle and having problems with medication and it wouldn't matter. The appearance of special treatment will be enough to damn him. (Thank goodness he is not in an endangered seat. Rhode Island loves their Congressman.)

[ginnyinWI]

2. bad timing too

The Righties are looking for something like this to take the stink away from the corruption/prostitution scandals coming out now.

That Ambien is wicked stuff. I don't have any personal experience with it but have seen stories in the news about people getting up in the night and driving in their sleep!

Just imagine what Rush will do with this today. :( Especially because his last name is Kennedy. :( :(

[kerrygoddess]

3. If they didn't have him do it

which is what I understand happened then it is on them - not him. They may have not smelled alcohol.

Ambien is not good stuff. I've taken it before - I didn't like it at all.

[saracat]

4. I still don't believe he was drinking. And I believe he didn't fall off th

wagon. I think he is a victim if the wrong perscription. What I want to know, since Patrick has been open about this problem, what led the doc to percribe something that is potentially addictive?

“Last Tuesday, the Attending Physician of the United States Congress treated me for Gastroenteritis,” a stomach illness. According to Kennedy, the attending physician prescribed Phenergan, an anti-nausea medication, which in addition to treating gastroenteritis, “I now know can cause drowsiness and sedation.” “Following the last series of votes Wednesday evening, I returned to my home on Capitol Hill and took the prescribed amount of Phenergan and Ambien, which was also prescribed by the Attending Physician some time ago and I occasionally take to fall asleep. Some time around 2:45am, I drove the few blocks to the Capitol Complex believing I needed to vote.
"

[Island Blue]

5. Apparently Ambien can have some wicked side effects.

No one knows for sure right now exactly what happened with Patrick Kennedy, but Shanja Gupta (sp) on CNN did a report earlier this evening talking about a very rare side effect of the drug that makes people do all kinds of crazy things without knowing it. They showed an interview with a man who remembered reading in bed, and then the next thing he knew he was being told by police to get out of his, was given sobriety tests (which he failed) and was then arrested and taken into custody. Like I said, no one knows right now if this is what happened with Patrick, but it's not a good side effect for a drug to have, even if it's a rare.

[kerrygoddess]

6. Addiction is very tricky

And many Dr's don't understand the implications of prescribing certain drugs to people who are addicts. It happens all the time. The other thing too as we have seen with Rush is that prescription drug addicts will go to mulitple Dr.'s to get meds. It's a get around the issue way to get more.

Ambien is not a narcotic so it's not considered addictive but it is considered to habit forming.

Initially it was supposed to be a wonder drug for insomniacs, something that would get a person's circadian clock back on track and that they only need to take short term. However people with sleep disorders tend to get hooked on having something to take to go to sleep. It's a viscious cycle.

Sleep walking and sleep eating are common for people who take sleep meds and Jeraly reported on sleep driving on TalkLeft.

[saracat]

7. Me too! And I didn't take it long. I didn't like the way it made

me feel!

[ray of light]

8. nice post saracat.

I heard him also say he didn't ask for preferential treatment. But I'm inclined to believe that the police didn't give him a breathalizer because he didn't smell like alcohol. I guarentee they would have smelled it. And furthermore, they did issue him citations.

I think this is a trumped up media frenzy just to get the attention off Republicans more serious crimes. It's lousy that this happened for Mr. Kennedy's sake but also for ours.

[zann725]

9. Somehow I believe PK too. Plus, you don't HAVE to be 'addicted'

to prescription drugs just because you take them. There ARE such things as "negative" drug interactions when taking more than one prescription at once.

I'm not entirely dismissing the incident, but this (and his "Kennedy" name/association) is being "hyped" FAR too much...particularly by MSM...

who predictably, obviously want to focus away from FAR more important issues at hand, like the 'SURPRISE' (highly-significant) resignation of Porter Goss...(with Negroponte grinning in the "wings.") Shudder...shudder.

[jillan]

10. check out the back of Kennedy's car :)

http://www.azcentral.com/php-bin/commphotos/view.php?id=18367

He still has his Kerry bumperticker on.

[karynnj]

11. Weird - Kerry and Gephardt - both from the primaries