Guest Feature: Lubbock in the Dark V: Drug Abuse

Ruth Bradley is a crack reporter and an official Friend of the Brink. (Crack: adj; of superior excellence or ability. She is not on crack, nor does she report exclusively about crack.) She's got a five-part series on social issues in Lubbock, Texas running in the Texas Tech student paper, the Daily Toreador. We'll link to the articles, and we'll also run them here since you have to sign up to view them on the site.

A few days before his high school graduation, Steven Parkson decided to take a road trip. He often traveled to Lubbock from his home in Lake Travis to party with the fraternity he hoped to join one day.

Parkson said he remembers the drive well, remembers "drinking and drugging the whole way." He also remembers the accident.

Parkson crashed head-on into a single-cab pickup, totaling both vehicles and injuring the four passengers in the other vehicle.

"When I got in the back of that cop car, I was crying," said Parkson, a senior history and political science major. "It became real clear to me that there were serious consequences to your actions."

Violent incidents like this are highly correlated to drug abuse said Lisa Karnes, crime analyst for the Lubbock Police Department.

"When people use drugs, they don't think clearly and do other crimes," she said.

Tony Menchaca, a lieutenant in the criminal investigations department of the Lubbock Sheriff's Office, said use of illegal drugs greatly increases crime.

"Drug abuse is a nexus for just about every kind of crime you can imagine," he said.

It especially increases the violence of crimes, he said, and the aggression of the perpetrators. Because of this, drug abuse affects not just the abuser, but also the community as a whole.

"We have a pretty big drug problem here, and there's a great deal of money involved," he said. "And that's causing tons of problems."

Gilbert Arredondo, a sergeant in the Texas Department of Public Safety Narcotics Division, said narcotics officers are having particular problems with methamphetamines, because their users become addicted so quickly.

"You can't be a casual user of methamphetamine," he said. "You don't own it, it'll own you."

Other illegal drugs commonly sold in the Lubbock-area include cocaine and crack. Sometimes these are transported into Lubbock 10 or 15 tons at a time, Menchaca said.

"It's a humongous business, it really is," he said. "These guys are making tons of money."

And it seems to be growing.

"Our arrests and seizures for narcotics have probably tripled the last couple years," Arredondodo said.

The problem has become so large that the Lubbock Police Department Narcotics division no longer is able to do much in-depth work, Menchaca said. Instead, they are struggling to keep up with the calls that come in on a daily basis about problems in various neighborhoods.

"They don't have the time to do long-term investigations," he said.

The causes behind drug abuse are varied and complex. Mary Gerlach, behavioral health director for the Lubbock Regional Mental Health Mental Retardation Center, said some people begin abusing in an attempt to self-medicate mental problems, such as depression. Children who grew up in a home where abuse was accepted are more likely to become addicted as well, Gerlach said. And for many, drug abuse starts as an attempt to belong.

"While it's not an accepting peer group, it's the closest thing they ever have to one," Gerlach said.

For Parkson, who began experimenting with drugs at age 14, this was exactly what drugs offered.

"I always felt a little different," he said, recalling having trouble fitting in during his years in middle school. But the first time he got high, that feeling went away.

"I felt like it filled in my awkwardness," he said. "(It) kind of brought me out of my shell. I felt like it helped me to be me - whatever that was."

So Parkson continued to do drugs, experimenting with pot, mushrooms and other hallucinogens. Just a year after he first tried drugs, he started selling drugs to other students, and doing drugs on a daily basis.

"I loved being high," Parkson said. "I spent all my time trying to be high."

The feeling of being high becomes both a physical and a biological need, said George Comiskey, associate director for the Center for the Study of Addiction and Recovery.

"There's just a physiological energy that happens when they put a drug into their system," he said. "You want that feeling; you want that feeling over and over."

Comiskey said addiction is a combination of disorders, affecting health, emotions and social life.

"There's a part of them that says 'I can't live without this' - it's become their best friend," he said.

Finally, there comes a point where users no longer can control their needs.

"When you want to quit and you can't quit, you are officially addicted," Comiskey said.

Abusers often become even more dependant on drugs as the consequences of addiction begin to affect their lives.

Comiskey said addicts often take drugs not only to get high, but also to forget the emotional and relational problems caused by their actions. This is why so many former addicts go back to drugs, even after years of being clean.

"When life gets overwhelming, that drug is always out there as an option," Comiskey said.

After the wreck, Parkson said he constantly felt this need to feel better.

"I started taking pills, I started taking more drugs," he said. "I was just kind of on this merry-go-round, this cycle of addiction - it's kind of like self-hate."

In the midst of this, Parkson met his first serious girlfriend, and, eventually her father.

Parkson said her father became an important figure in his life, and he was convicted by this man's lifestyle and attitude.

"I felt really guilty around him, you know?" Parkson said. "Because my life wasn't right."

Because of his influence, Parkson said he became a Christian, began to attend church and quit drugs cold turkey. He was able to stay clean for six months, before he experienced a relapse, while drinking on his 21st birthday.

"I thought I could control it," he said.

The reawakening of his alcoholism quickly led to the reawakening of another old habit. Under stress from work and school, Parkson slipped back into drug abuse long enough to realize that he might need additional help.

He attended a local 12-step meeting, and spent time at Dove Tree Ranch and Faith Center, two private Lubbock rehabilitation centers.

But private treatment centers like this are scarce, and expensive in the Lubbock area, Gerlach said. The other alternative, state-funded treatment also is scarce, and the demand so high that applicants must often wait for weeks before they actually begin the program.

"So when they do get ready to get help they have to wait two to six weeks," she said.

By this time, many of them have gone back to their addictions.

"You've got to hit someone when they're ready, or they're not going to do anything," Gerlach said.

Although resources are limited because of funding cuts, Gerlach said MHMR does offer help to those who realize a need. The center provides a 24-hour crisis line at (806) 740-1414.

Gerlach said she'd like to see more rehabilitation centers and similar programs started in Lubbock, particularly for the youth. Currently, there are no treatment centers for juveniles in Lubbock.

"None of the private facilities see a need to open one up," she said.

The nearest youth rehabilitation center is in Plainview.

There is more help available for Texas Tech students, Comiskey said.

The Center for the Study of Addiction and Recovery offers programs specifically designed to help students through education about the problem, and through accountability. The center can be contacted at (806) 742-2891.

More than anything, people trying to recover need support, Comiskey said.

"You really have to help them change their life," he said.

Since his recovery, this has been one of Parkson's goals - to encourage people who are now were he once was.

"I was taught that the Lord has given me a gift," he said. "And the only way to keep that gift is to give it away."

Since his recovery, Parkson has worked to help users, working with Lubbock's Adult Drug Court, which helps first-time felony offenders of drug-related crimes, and with Christ in Action to reach those struggling with drug abuse.

And, most importantly, he tells his story - a story he hopes will bring hope to others.

"It can be overcome," he said. "It doesn't have to be the end, it can be the beginning."


© Copyright 2006 Daily Toreador

Ruth wrote me to comment on her story; I include her comment here:

Dear Huevo,
One thing I was struck with about these stories is that, with the exception of the child abuse issue, in Lubbock at least, the only organizations that are able to help with these problems are church-based.
You and I were talking the other day about how many of these, especially homelessness, need to be handled on a case-by-case basis, because of their complexity. I think the church really is the only feasible way to deal with these, and moreover, it is the only way to really fix the problems.
I wasn't able to include this interveiw in my story, but one of the homeless men I talked to said, and I completely agree with him, that even if you can start programs to meet all these physical needs, it won't end the problems. The real problem is not drugs, or homelessness, or prostitution, those are the symptoms. The real problem is what these people really need is Jesus, because without Him there is no hope, no reason to live, and no reason to change.
The prostitute that I talked to, Anita, said the main reason she was on the street was she was looking for someone who truely cared about her -just for her. That was something she couldn't find at home, or on the streets, and truely, that's only something she's going to find in Christ.
That is the root of the need, and the real cry of these people.

note: Parkson's name has been changed here to protect his identity.