www.vtbar.org
much lives on the front porch.
The first time I raid the cooler, I take five
beers. Two days later, I take ten. I quickly
determine that I like the warm feeling I get
after I chug a few beers. I start off drink-
ing alone. It doesn’t take long before I’m
drinking about a six-pack of beer every
day. Eventually, my cousin notices that the
cooler is being emptied on a regular ba-
sis. He moves the cooler inside. This does
not deter me. When my cousin decides to
stop stocking the cooler and his fridge, I
learn that, for a fee, older kids—who are 21
or have fake IDs—are happy to purchase
booze for me. It’s also about this time that
my friend’s dad buys a liquor store and I
discover that marijuana is also an interest-
ing substance. Opportunity, in a sense,
abounds.
Eventually, the brushes with the law start.
Connecticut police, for whatever reason,
are lenient with drunk kids. Looking back,
I’m surprised I never was arrested in Con-
necticut. In Vermont, I start hanging out
with older kids. I join a punk rock band. I
travel around the United States and some-
how manage to stay out of real legal trou-
ble until I return to Vermont. At 19, I get
picked up by the State Police, hitchhiking
drunk. At 20, I pick up a mess of charges
for being a drunken idiot and tussling with
a Trooper. That’s a long story I’ll tell you
some other time.
I get charged with a lot of crimes over
the next few years, all alcohol related. I
wreck vehicles. I do a lot of dumb stuff I
don’t need to recount here (but that I did
need to recount on all my bar applications).
Eventually, I nearly end up with a DUI in
Maine. So I sober up for a few years and
finish college. I apply to law school and get
in. Life is good again.
And here’s the part that kills me every
time. I thought I had it beat. Because I was
sober for a few years, I figured I was good
to go. I’d proved to myself that alcohol
didn’t have control over me.
The first day of law school is an orien-
tation at the state house. We get to have
beers with the governor. There’s no way I
can pass that opportunity up, right?
So I start drinking again. But I have
rules. I only drink on the weekends. I only
drink beer. And that works great for a few
months. But then I start making little ex-
ceptions. And the little exceptions get big-
ger. Eventually, I have a half-gallon of vod-
ka hidden in my filing cabinet. Eventually, I
drive the morning after a particularly exu-
berant binge and wreck my Jeep—like re-
ally wreck it.
I wake up on the side of the road to EMTs
and two State Troopers. The Troopers smell
booze and I end up testing at almost dou-
ble the legal limit despite having slept for
several hours the night before. My fiancée
breaks up with me. I move in with my par-
ents for a little while. I lose my license and
often have to hitchhike to law school.
So I stop drinking. And I’ve been so-
ber for a little over eight years now. My
last drink was in law school. Over the past
eight years, I’ve gotten married, become a
college professor, been admitted to three
bars, and become a grandfather (via my 25-
year old stepdaughter). I’ve learned a lot.
I’ve also had some rough times. My father
took his own life two years ago. I’m still
dealing with that. I’ve seen utter joy and
I’ve been so depressed that I didn’t want
to get out of bed.
If you’re like me, quitting booze doesn’t
make your problems go away. Sometimes,
perhaps even often, the problems are
that much more stressful initially because
there’s no temporary (and it is very tempo-
rary) escape hatch at the bottom of a bot-
tle. What quitting drinking does is allow
one to face the problems head-on—it gets
THE VERMONT BAR JOURNAL • WINTER 2016-17
rid of that tempting ‘I’ll-deal-with-it-tomor-
row’ excuse.
I’ve got a lot more I could say, but that’s
enough for now. I’ve told you part of my
story. Maybe it’s resonated with you; or
maybe you think I’m foolish. But the one
thing—if I had to pick one thing—that’s re-
ally helped me over the years is knowing
that I’m not alone. We have a Lawyers As-
sistance Program in Vermont (www.lapvt.
org). Under Rule 8.3, these are the lawyers
you can talk to about drug, alcohol, or any
other addiction issues confidentially. Don’t
be afraid to use it.
____________________
Andy Delaney is vice president of Martin
& Associates in Barre. He focuses his prac-
tice primarily on personal injury and crimi-
nal defense. He is admitted to the bar in
Vermont, New York, and the District of Co-
lumbia.
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