Indiana Councilman Arrested For Drunk Driving

A councilman from Hendricks County, Indiana got a little sleepy after boozing it up, and decided to take a nap in his car. The problem was that he was driving his car before he decided to sleep it off. And as we all know, it is ILLEGAL to drive while intoxicated.

The story can be found here, here, and here.

Police happened upon the councilman’s car and found him asleep behind the wheel at a railroad crossing. Apparently he dozed off while stopping for a passing train. Police found it odd that someone would use their car and the road for their bedtime, so they roused him and found his blood alcohol level to be 0.13. The councilman was arrested and thrown in the Hendricks County Jail overnight until he made $1,500 bond in the morning.

I do not know the councilman’s body weight. But assuming he is around 220 pounds, he would have had to consume 7 to 8 drinks in one hour to get that drunk. Well at least he was drunk on his own time, right? Getting drunk and driving has no bearing on one’s judgment, right? What he does in his personal life, no matter how stupid or dangerous is of no concern to the people who elected him, right? Hmmmm




Link Back to Substance Abuse CLE

A Drunken Rant by Senator Baucus?

In case you haven’t heard, some are saying that Senator Max Baucus of Montana was drunk when he spoke on the Senate floor during the health care debate. Video of his sloppy performance is posted all over the internet. For a great objective analysis see Mark Schenker’s December 30, 2009 post on Associated Content.

Senator Baucus is a Democrat, so it would not be surprising to see him attacked from Republicans. However, if indeed the Senator was drunk, it should be noted that substance abuse and addiction problems are not unique to one political party. For instance alcohol addiction can be caused by genetic and environmental factors. Both factors do not have to be present for a drinker to become dependent on alcohol. Alcohol depedence is not caused by one's political philosophy.

Senator Baucus' judgment was already under fire after he recommended a staffer-turned-girlfriend to be the U.S. attorney for Montana. See a sample article here from the Washington Post.

If Senator Baucus was drunk, it would be right to report on the incident and call him out. Those responsible for creating the laws of this nation should be held to a very high personal and moral standard. Alcoholism is a disease, but the conduct of a drunk must not be condoned. Slamming and confronting a drunk, and making him realize that he has a problem, is often how treatment begins.



Link back to Substance Abuse CLE