Rep Kennedy seeks drug abuse help

By Richard Cowan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – One day after he crashed his car
near the U.S. Capitol, Rep. Patrick Kennedy, son of
Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy, said on Friday he
would seek treatment for a long-term drug abuse problem.

“This afternoon I am traveling to Minnesota to seek
treatment at the Mayo Clinic to insure that I can continue on
my road to recovery,” Kennedy, a Rhode Island Democrat, told
reporters.

Kennedy said he was a patient last winter at the clinic,
receiving care for an addiction to prescription pain medicine.

His announcement came shortly after a U.S. Capitol Police
report showed Kennedy, 38, was charged with three driving
violations after he crashed his car into a Capitol Hill
security barrier early Thursday.

In an earlier statement, Kennedy said he had become
disoriented because of medicine and sleeping pills.

Kennedy said he had been “fighting this chronic disease
since I was a young man” and wanted to continue working for his
constituents in Rhode Island.

“I need to stay in the fight,” said the six-term
congressman who was re-elected with 64 percent of the vote in
2004.

Kennedy said he had no recollection of the crash. “I simply
do not remember getting out of bed, being pulled over by the
police or being cited for three driving infractions.”

His father said in a statement, “All of us in the family
admire his courage in speaking publicly about very personal
issues and fully support his decision to seek treatment.”

‘EYES WERE RED … SPEECH WAS SLIGHTLY SLURRED’

According to the Capitol Police report, Kennedy’s 1997 Ford
Mustang was traveling “at a high rate of speed” on a street
close to the Capitol and “swerving into the wrong lane” shortly
before his car hit a barrier.

The police report said that Kennedy’s “eyes were red and
watery, speech was slightly slurred and upon exiting his
vehicle, his balance was unsure.”

There were no injuries in the crash.

Capitol Police were investigating the incident, as well as
the department’s handling of it. A police union official said
on Thursday officers were stopped from giving Kennedy a test
for alcohol consumption following the crash.

Kennedys have been prominent in American politics for
decades. Patrick Kennedy’s uncles included President John
Kennedy, assassinated in 1963, and Robert Kennedy, a former
U.S. attorney general and New York senator, who was
assassinated in 1968 during his run for president.

Edward Kennedy, a voice for liberal causes, is one of the
longest-serving senators.

Several family members have had much-publicized drug and
alcohol problems.

According to government statistics, 14 million American
adults are alcoholics or abusers of alcohol and more than 14
million people used illicit drugs in 2000.

Reaction in Rhode Island was mixed.

WPRO-AM talk-show host Dan Yorke urged his listeners to
fire Kennedy in the November elections, saying he had exhausted
his good will and cannot effectively serve constituents.

But some callers to the station said mental health problems
are complex and Kennedy deserved the benefit of the doubt.

(Additional reporting by Donna Smith and Susan Cornwell in
Washington and Svea Herbst-Bayliss in Boston)