Choking back tears, Madison attorney Andy Taggart had a stirring message for Wednesday’s graduates of the Greenwood Drug Court.
Taggart, a former chief of staff to Gov. Kirk Fordice, spoke of his own personal tragedy, when his son, Brad Taggart, killed himself in July 2012 at the age of 21 after privately struggling with drug addiction.
Addressing the drug court graduates — who were honored Wednesday for completing a court-ordered yearlong program to overcome substance abuse — Taggart spoke from the lecturn as if from a pulpit, describing the battle against drugs as “spiritual warfare” and calling addiction a “grave spiritual enemy” while frequently quoting from the Bible, especially the story of Gideon.
Taggart went on to read the crowd — which included the family of the drug court graduates — the note his son left before taking his own life. In it, Brad documented his own struggles and the emotional and physical toll that drugs had taken on him.
“I have no emotions, I can’t be happy ever, I’m empty inside,” Taggart read from the note. “Drugs have robbed me of my memory and knowledge that I’ve gained. I have zero reading comprehension skills and my attention span is about 10 seconds.”
Struggling to hold his emotions in check, Taggart continued to read: “I have no hope, no reason to continue on. I’ve ruined my mind, my brain and my life.”
Since the devastation of his son’s suicide, Taggart said he’s gone on a mission to “sound the alarm,” trying to warn others about the dangers of addiction and offer support to those struggling to overcome it.
“The enemy is strong, and drugs are deadly,” Taggart told the crowd.
Before Taggart took the podium, the crowd heard from two of the graduating members of the drug court class. Wearing white graduation robes, Angela Mallette, 43, talked about her own 18-year struggle with addiction to opiates.
“No one is impervious to addiction,” Mallette said. “I feel like one of the lucky ones to be chosen for drug court because — and this isn’t just cliche — I think it saved my life.”
Taggart echoed that message in his speech. A prominent and successful attorney, Taggart said he once assumed that only “losers” succumb to addiction — until tragedy struck his own son, whom Taggart described as uniquely charming, talented, bright and popular.
“I’ve got to admit that maybe I had a little bit of that self-righteous attitude that maybe a lot of people in this room had before your family got touched by drugs or alcohol or some other abusive situation in your life,” Taggart said.
Greenwood Police Chief Ray Moore, speaking directly to the graduates, said his door was always open to help any of them in their post-drug-court lives.
“You all have a long, uphill battle ahead,” Moore said. “The fact that you’re all sitting here today is proof that you can achieve what you set your mind to.”
• Contact Bryn Stole at 581-7235 or bstole@gwcommonwealth.com.
