Ryan Leaf’s Addiction Problem, A National Problem

I’ve followed Ryan Leaf since his days as the quarterback at Washington State University.  Once he got into the pros his actions had me scratching my head and saying, “what the heck?”  After football, his life has been “checkered” to say the least. Then it started to become obvious, he has a problem, one that he can’t seem to handle by himself. A problem that seems to be a national issue.  It was revealed today that 69 tons of oxycodone, and 42 tons of hydrocodone were dispensed by pharmacies, hospitals and physicians in 2010. That’s enough for 40 5mg Percocet tablets and 24 5mg Vicodin tablets for  every person in the U.S. Experts are worried about what they call, “a wave of addiction to painkillers.”

Scott Mansch, sportswriter for The Great Falls Tribune, wrote a very good column on Ryan Leaf.  As he says in the article, ”…. I would submit that anyone wishing Ryan Leaf any ill will or rejoicing whatsoever in his sorry predicament should pause for a second and ponder the problem of drug addiction. And perhaps offer a prayer. For Leaf. And for the rest of us.”