Document text
Video shows family desolated by drugs By SUSAN JAY It was 10 years ago when Linda Couch heard the scream on the telephone. It was her future sister-in-law and she had just found Couch's brother in his bathroom, dead from a heroin overdose. "He had the heart to get off, but he couldn't," Couch, a Medford resident, says in a locally produced video about her brother's story and the family's tragic battle with his addiction. Kingsley Kelley, general manager of KTVL Channel 10, said the simultaneous airing of the show by all the TV stations is a historic event. "This is an important topic," he said. Drug abuse and prevention affects the entire community, and it's important enough that local affiliates are willing to put competition aside for a half hour and share the video's important message. Businesses and organizations including Medford Clinic, Providence Medford Medical Center, Rogue Community College, the Rogue Valley Manor and Addictions Recovery Center are helping buy the air time to broadcast the video. After seeing the video himself, Kingsley suggested the simultaneous broadcast idea to Tom Monson, the video's producer. Monson owns Crime Prevention Resources, a Medford company that produces educational and training videos for law enforcement distributed by its parent company, Educational Systems & Resources Inc. Monson said this video is different because it shows the process of addiction, the difficulty of quitting and how one person's habit can devastate an entire family. Kelley and Monson spoke at a news conference Thursday in Medford, which also featured law enforcement officials, doctors and community leaders who have given their support to the video. Medford Mayor Jerry Lausmann shared the story of his daughter, who because of her drug use now has Hepatitis C. "I love her very much and unless she can get a liver transplant ... there's a pretty good chance she won't make it," he said. Jackson County Sheriff's Capt. Ed Mayer said 80 percent of the crimes committed locally and nationally are directly or indirectly caused by drug abuse. Cheryl French, marketing director for Providence, said an average of 150 babies are born drug addicted every year in the Rogue Valley. Neonatal intensive care for each of those babies costs at least $150,000, she said. French also said the number of emergency room visits in Jackson County because of substance abuse has more than doubled in the past five years. Couch, vice-president of human resources and corporate relations for Medford Clinic, has told her brother's story over and over to school and youth groups. Her brother progressed from marijuana to heroin and tried to quit 26 times in treatment programs before he overdosed after several months off the drug. Ten years later, after telling her story for years, Couch said, "I never can get through all the way without some emotion." On all channels The video, "Drug Wars, One Family's Battle," will be shown in an unprecedented simultaneous broadcast by all four local commercial television stations: KTVL Channel 10, KOBI Channel 5, KDRV Channel 12 and KMVU Channel 13, at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 24, 1999. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford, Oregon USA