One Teen’s Drug Use, One Shattered Family

Re “User of ‘Party’ Drug Is Left a Shell of Self,” Dec. 3:

Thank you for placing such a worthwhile and informative, although tragic, story right where it belongs--on a front page with a color picture. Any parent with a child old enough to understand the risks of drugs and peer pressure should sit and share this story. Erin Rose and the price she is paying for experimenting with drugs can send a powerful message and serve as a possible “reality check” for many teens.

Young readers won’t find glamour or excitement about drugs here. Just the sad reality of a beautiful “straight-A student, a great athlete and employee,” left to struggle through life with the skills of a 4-year-old. Perhaps the visual of Erin struggling to pull a zipper will be filed away in the mind of another young person and resurface when he/she is exposed to drug use.

As a mother, I can only imagine the pain Erin’s mom is enduring. Yet I applaud Maryanne Rose for having the courage to share her family’s tragic experience.

What Maryanne has given parents, including myself, is a gift. It’s the opportunity to share the painful and irreversible destruction drugs can cause. Without preaching or using fear tactics, her story can help open valuable and necessary communication between parents and their children. Maryanne said, “The daughter I know is dead. She’s gone. I keep hoping to find the good in all this. I haven’t really found it yet.” If Erin’s tragedy can help educate and empower other children to resist experimenting with drugs, then maybe Maryanne can find the good in her daughter’s horrible loss.

Julie Hudash

Board of Directors

Irvine Community Drug Prevention

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I hope you realize that, like you, Erin thought this would never happen to her. Like you, she had a boyfriend and a job. Like you, she had friends and could drive. Like you, she looked forward to being independent and someday getting married. Like you, she had a loving family that encouraged her to work toward her independence.

But instead of a job, she has therapy; instead of dating, she makes beaded bracelets; instead of marriage or independence, she requires help with almost everything she does. Also, like you, she felt that this was her life and she could do whatever she wanted with it. But because of what she did with her life, her brother has to explain to his middle school friends why his sister acts so strangely.

Instead of shopping for clothes with her, her younger sister helps Erin get dressed and undressed. As for me, I can’t even begin to tell you how negatively my life has been impacted. So please remember, if you don’t have enough respect for yourself to stay away from drugs, please stay away from them for the sake of your family. Please don’t do to your family what Erin has done to ours. We love and support Erin and do everything we can to help her recover, but our family lives in a lot of turmoil, and may never be normal again. We hope that our story will convince you to “Just Say No.”

Maryanne Rose

Irvine