Bob CollinsWhere drug addiction is concerned, it’s hard to have happy endings.
Sports talk radio host Jeff Dubay has been alternately an inspiration and a reminder of the insidiousness of drug use in his recovery from a cocaine addiction that cost him his career and his freedom years ago.
But he cleaned himself up by 2012, while calling attention to the difficulty of finding treatment programs that don’t revolve around religion. Having missed on three programs, he says he kicked the habit merely by locking himself in his bathroom for a few days.
Now, however, Dubay has been arrested again, the Pioneer Press reports.
Dubay, 47, was stopped on Wednesday for speeding near Park High School in Cottage Grove. He was was driving with a suspended license and had an outstanding misdemeanor warrant from Wright County for no insurance, the paper said.
A subsequent search found two hypodermic needles and a baggie containing a trace amount of suspected meth, it reported.
In an April 3 posting on Facebook, he announced he had stopped taking anti-depressant medication.
It’s common for people with mental health issues to drop the meds; they want to know if the real person is the person on meds, or the person off them. The result is predictable and his fans posted messages warning him of the consequences.
His radio career has been over since he lost a job at ESPN 1500, reportedly in a cost-cutting move. He’s tried to jumpstart a podcasting career with mixed results.
If history is any guide, news of the former Twins bat boy’s arrest will find some glee in the fanboy world of sports, where some people lose their humanity over an allegiance to a sports point of view. When his stories hit the news websites today, it’s advisable to stay out of the comments sections.
Why?
“Loser,” one comment on the Pioneer Press site says this morning.
“Be easier to have empathy if he wasn’t such a jerk,” said another.
Oh, people.
