Once Caught in Drug Twilight, Jackson Says
Democratic presidential candidate Jesse Jackson told patients at a drug rehabilitation center that he was briefly dependent on a painkiller while recovering from a football injury in college.
Jackson, who often delivers a stirring anti-drug speech to young people, recalled that he once considered stealing a bracelet from his mother to buy more of the drug.
“Why am I so sympathetic and empathetic?” Jackson asked about 85 patients at Seaborne Hospital on Sunday night. “Because I was trapped for a moment myself.”
The audience chuckled as he talked of being in the “twilight zone” because of painkillers he received while hospitalized for a leg injury he said he suffered during a football game in his sophomore year in college.
Jackson recalled telling his doctor, “Damn, doc, right on. What is this stuff? I want some more of this.” Jackson did not specify which painkiller had been prescribed or how he overcame the dependence.
Get the L.A. Times Politics newsletter
Deeply reported insights into legislation, politics and policy from Sacramento, Washington and beyond. In your inbox three times per week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
