A blog about substance abuse among our elected officials and all government officials. The purpose is not necessarily to embarass or humiliate, but to provide awareness of substance abuse and addiction problems.
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Many people drink during the holidays, and as a result, many people are cited for drunk driving. The people who earn our trust and votes, and who are thereby elected to public office unfortunately are no exception. Though they may think they are high and mighty, it turns out they just have too much to drink every now and then.
At least that may have been the case with Senator Michael D. Crapo, a Republican from Idaho. His party affiliation is identified here, though we caution you that no political party has the monopoly on substance abuse and addiction. Alcohol tempts and seduces rich and poor, leaders and followers, bosses and workers, and Democrats and Republicans. This time our post is about a Republican, but next time it is just as likely to be a drunk Democrat. This is no political rant, folks. Senator Crapo was arrested in the wee hours of December 23rd for suspicion of drunk driving. The story is here. It is reported that his blood alcohol level was 0.11 percent - well over the 0.08 percent limit of Virginia where he was arrested. If your blood alcohol level is 0.11, you may experience mood swings, feel angry or sad, have impaired reaction times, decreased motor control, stagger and speak with slurred speach. We don't know how much the good Senator weighs, but to get a BAC of 0.11, a 200 lb. person would have to throw back around five drinks, at least according to this BAC chart. Senator Crapo is the fifth-ranking Republican on the
Senate Finance Committee. According to the biography on his website, Senator Crapo graduated from Brigham Young University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. After law school he clerked for the Ninth Circuit and became a partner in a law firm. Return to Substance Abuse CLE
Think one little alcohol related incident won’t ruin your day, or have much effect on your life? Perhaps that is what California State Senator Roy Ashburn thought as he left a Sacramento bar around 2:00 a.m. and drove off. That’s probably not what he is thinking now. After police saw him driving erratically, he was pulled over and arrested for DUI. That in itself could be a big deal for a Republican who has tried to position himself as being strong on moral family values. In such a case, just one DUI could ruin a person’s career. Well, as we hear so often on commercials: but wait, there’s more! It is alleged that the bar from which the conservative state senator emerged in his drunken stupor was none other than Faces, a well-known Sacramento gay bar!
Stories are all over the internet. For a story on his arrest, see this short AP report. For the more provocative stories concerning where may have been, see here and here.
Hey Senator, take a walk on the wild side? For the purposes of the Drunk Politician Blog, we could care less whether or not someone is gay, straight, Democrat or Republican. The point is that a person’s sexual orientation or political philosophy doesn’t have anything to do with substance abuse. Alcohol does not discriminate! Alcohol is a strong contributing factor in putting Senator Ashburn in the position he is now in.
There is some dispute about whether the senator really did come from a gay bar. See here. Perhaps this is just some political hit job perpetrated by opponents of California’s Proposition 8, a voter initiative which officially makes marriage in California between a man and a woman. Senator Ashburn is known to have been in favor of Proposition 8. He has also taken a position on other legislation for which he has been labeled as being “anti-gay.” He has made lots of political enemies.
Forget the political debate for a second. The point we are making here is that were it not for his excessive alcohol consumption and his apparent decision to drive while intoxicated, would Senator Ashburn be in the center of this controversy now? Most definitely not.
In the military, Senator Ashburn’s DUI would be classified as an alcohol related incident and annotated in his record book. This is just one occasion of alcohol abuse. Alcohol abuse differs from alcohol dependence, in that it is not a disease. A person can abuse alcohol without being an alcoholic. A person may drink too much and too often but still not be dependent on alcohol. Some alcohol related problems include not being able to meet work, school, or family responsibilities; drunk-driving arrests and car crashes; and drinking-related medical conditions. Under some circumstances, even social or moderate drinking is dangerous--for example, when driving, during pregnancy, or when taking certain medications.
Something else Senator Ashburn should have considered is that alcohol depresses your central nervous system, lowers your inhibitions, and impairs your judgment. Drinking can lead to risky behaviors, such as unprotected sex - but we won’t go there in this post!
