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Ernest Rodriguez speeches, 1976-2006

Ernest Rodriguez Speech on Drugs Page 1

Drugs, drugs, drugs!
Pick up any daily newspaper and some where in it you're going to find a drug-related report. Look at the arrest reports and you'll find that 80% of arrests are either drug-related, alcohol-related, or both. These reports give no indication that the war on drugs in the Quad-city area is making any progress. If law enforcement officials have intensified their efforts to stop the illegal flow of drugs then the drug dealers are far outpacing these efforts.

I am a grandfather of 22 grand-children and I am very concerned about them growing up in a drug-infested community where drugs are easier to buy near or in the schools than candy. I can recall with some frustration and sadness when my sons were in their teens and fell into the perverse world of drug use. Drugs ruled the roost of their thinking and behavior and rational discussion was impossible as long as drug use prevailed. I can remember my oldest son overdosing on LSD. I received a call from a local pizza parlor and went there to help my son. He was lying on the floor, saliva drooping from his mouth and shouting profanities and talking incoherently. I got him in my car and drove him up to the emergency ward of Mercy Hospital. Since he was veteran they transferred him to the Veteran's Hospital in Iowa City. I remember when visiting him he hardly recognized us. He was confined to a wheel chair with restraining straps. He stared straight ahead like a zombie and saliva was constantly drooping from his mouth. When he recovered enough to walk by himself he left the hospital with a visiting friend (also a drug user) before his treatment was completed. He continued to use drugs for some years after. Another younger son overdosed on drugs at a party teenagers were having at the home of one of them. My nephew about the same age as my son was attending the party also and called us to say our son was acting strangely and was lying unconscious outside in the yard. I went up to the address given me by my nephew to pick my son up and found him outside lying on the cold ground unconscious. This was in the fall of the year when it was cold enough to wear a jacket. I brought him home and we revived him but he went into convulsions so we called a Drug Center for help and two staff persons came to our house and took our son to the hospital for treatment. Another son, who I believe was drinking and smoking hashish, came home and started fighting with his younger brother. I tried to separate them and stop the fighting which occurred in my son's bedroom. My son who was high on drugs flew down the steps and back back with a boning knife that was in the kitchen. Most of the family were crowded into the small bedroom because my younger son, because of the disturbance, had started hyperventilating and so we put a paper sack over his mouth and nose attempting to help him. It was then my other son returned with the knife and threatened to kill me. At the time I was holding my granddaughter who was a toddler. My daughter, the child's mother, reached out and took her

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Drugs, drugs, drugs! Pick up any daily newspaper and some where in it you're going to find a drug-related report. Look at the arrest reports and you'll find that 80% of arrests are either drug-related, alcohol-related, or both. These reports give no indication that the war on drugs in the Quad-city area is making any progress. If law enforcement officials have intensified their efforts to stop the illegal flow of drugs then the drug dealers are far outpacing these efforts. I am a grandfather of 22 grand-children and I am very concerned about them growing up in a drug-infested community where drugs are easier to buy near or in the schools than candy. I can recall with some frustration and sadness when my sons were in their teens and fell into the perverse world of drug use. Drugs ruled the roost of their thinking and behavior and rational discussion was impossible as long as drug use prevailed. I can remember my oldest son overdosing on LSD. I received a call from a local pizza parlor and went there to help my son. He was lying on the floor, saliva drooping from his mouth and shouting profanities and talking incoherently. I got him in my car and drove him up to the emergency ward of Mercy Hospital. Since he was veteran they transferred him to the Veteran's Hospital in Iowa City. I remember when visiting him he hardly recognized us. He was confined to a wheel chair with restraining straps. He stared straight ahead like a zombie and saliva was constantly drooping from his mouth. When he recovered enough to walk by himself he left the hospital with a visiting friend (also a drug user) before his treatment was completed. He continued to use drugs for some years after. Another younger son overdosed on drugs at a party teenagers were having at the home of one of them. My nephew about the same age as my son was attending the party also and called us to say our son was acting strangely and was lying unconscious outside in the yard. I went up to the address given me by my nephew to pick my son up and found him outside lying on the cold ground unconscious. This was in the fall of the year when it was cold enough to wear a jacket. I brought him home and we revived him but he went into convulsions so we called a Drug Center for help and two staff persons came to our house and took our son to the hospital for treatment. Another son, who I believe was drinking and smoking hashish, came home and started fighting with his younger brother. I tried to separate them and stop the fighting which occurred in my son's bedroom. My son who was high on drugs flew down the steps and back back with a boning knife that was in the kitchen. Most of the family were crowded into the small bedroom because my younger son, because of the disturbance, had started hyperventilating and so we put a paper sack over his mouth and nose attempting to help him. It was then my other son returned with the knife and threatened to kill me. At the time I was holding my granddaughter who was a toddler. My daughter, the child's mother, reached out and took her