By: Kevin Trainor/Managing Editor
There is always that moment. There may have been several moments before, but for one who is addicted to, or an abuser of, a substance one stands out. For 38 year old, six-term Congressman Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), it was May 4, 2006, at 2:45am. Disoriented from prescription medications Ambien and Phenergan Kennedy crashed through a capitol grounds barricade, and was apprehended by U.S. Capitol Police. He stated to the officers he was late for a vote. A vote that happened six hours prior. The next day he admitted he had an addiction to prescription medications and announced he would be admitting himself to a drug rehabilitation facility at the Mayo Clinic.
Flash forward to today. The retired Rhode Island Democrat strode into the Kennedy Caucus Room, took the podium, and announced a panel of three senators, and a moderator talking of the opioid epidemic ravaging the nation. The room itself has a connection to Patrick who was accompanied by his wife, and preceded to the podium by his step-mother Vicki Kennedy. It was the scene of his uncle Jack in 1960, and his uncle Robert in 1968, announcing their candidacies for President. It was also the room where the U.S. Senate, in 1912, held hearings on the RMS Titanic disaster.
It can be argued that there is no more fierce, high profile, advocate for calling attention to, and getting funding for, the current epidemic of prescription medication abuse. He has help. From both sides of the political spectrum at that. With former house speaker, Newt Gingrich, and former Obama domestic policy advisor, Van Jones, he has founded the “Advocates of Opioid Recovery.” He is working with Senator Bob Portman, (R-OH), pictured adjoining this article, in securing funding for common sense answers to a plague of abuse that first caught national notice in the late 1990’s. This is not a partisan issue.
This is familiar territory for Patrick, the youngest of three children born to the late Senator Ted Kennedy, (D-MA), and his mother Joan. She herself with a personal history of addiction. His father knew how to compromise, deal. Famously he would use the analogy of a bread loaf. “Everybody wants bread. You can have a whole loaf, be happy, and upset others, or divide that loaf, and everybody gets bread.” Legislation that has been passed, or sits on the on-deck circle, advocated by Patrick has bi-partisan support. There is no liberal/conservative divide. Deaths due to overdosing are strictly non-partisan.
NoViewNews asked Mr. Kennedy about how this issue has morphed from a “self-reliant, boot strap” approach on one side, and a “just throw money at it,” from the other, to a bi-partisan tide of resolve that sets it apart from other issues. Kennedy responded “awareness, this touches all demographics.” It is evident in the legislation. Targeted funding, cooperation, and more stories of heartache than one can chronicle.
The cause continues for Patrick Kennedy, 50. He lives in Brigantine, New Jersey, these days. A husband, and father of two girls, and a boy. This is what he does. Advocating across the country, and raising awareness. He continually pushes for increased mental healthcare funding. He is passionate about the removal of the stigma associated with mental disorders which is increasingly a realization from both sides of the aisle. It may be different a different tack than the political career he has had, but there is a certain morality to it that sits with him just fine.
Tomorrow NoViewNews will take a look at bi-partisan cooperation on this issue in the United States Senate. Specifically, how two senators who will never vote together on any other issue, come together on this. A great perspective.
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