Palmerton man warns against drug use
Devin Isabella of Palmerton holds this sign and a picture of his late friend, Michael Graham, while standing along South First Street in Lehighton Tuesday night. Scan this photo with the Prindeo app for a video. TERRY AHNER/TIMES NEWS
From left, Maren Schoenberger, Troy Schoenberger, Mia Schoenberger, Devin Isabella and Jessica Kemmerer proudly display signs while standing in Lehighton’s lower park. TERRY AHNER/TIMES NEWS
Devin Isabella is a man on a mission.
For the past three weeks, Isabella has been seen walking throughout sections of Lehighton and Weissport holding up a sign.
His message is clear: “Stop selling drugs to my friends.”
Isabella said he purposely picked Tuesdays to walk with his sign because it’s the day of the week that his friend, Michael Graham, passed away.
Several of his friends, including Troy Schoenberger and Jessica Kemmerer of Lehighton, have joined in the cause.
Dealing with the loss of a friend
Isabella said this past Tuesday marked a month that Graham, 34, of Lehighton, has been gone.
“From the pain I felt from it, it’s also helped me,” Isabella said. “Michael was in recovery.”
Isabella said he and Graham had forged a strong bond as friends.
“Mike Graham was really close to my heart,” he said. “I really wanted to help that guy.”
Schoenberger also spoke highly of Graham.
“He put everybody’s feelings before himself,” Schoenberger said. “Bad things happened to a good guy.”
Spreading their message
Kemmerer said the group joined together to spread the word.
“It’s just bringing awareness to the problem going on in Lehighton,” Kemmerer said. “There needs to be stiffer penalties for people who sell drugs.”
Since he began walking with his sign, Isabella said many a passer-by has come up to the group to tell them of their losses due to drugs.
“These signs hit home,” he said. “We have people coming up to us crying telling us their story.”
Isabella said the group has received plenty of support.
“We were smiling, it was so overwhelming,” he said. “This is something great.”
Isabella said the group is thinking about starting up its own Facebook page.
“Obviously, every town has a (drug) problem,” he said. “They have a voice now.”
Comments
It is a made up disease like ADD/ADHD and the Autism spectrum. When I was in school everyone was ADHD, now the kids are all Autistic. The research says 12 to 15 children out of 1000 are autistic. How come I don't know 1,000 kids but know at least 50 people that have children diagnosed somewhere on the spectrum? It's called being a child with @s5h0le parents that can't deal with their kids. Just like an addict is someone that self medicates when they can't deal with life.
Signed,
An Addict
Type II diabetes is a disease because your body itself stops functioning properly. You don't have to be fat to have it, but a proper diet does help. Lyme disease is caused by bacteria carried by ticks. Your body cannot help that the tick gave it a disease. Epstein Barr is a virus, not a syndrome or disease. It can be associated and has been implicated with causing a disease but it in itself is not. And last but not least, Fibromyalgia is a "condition" or a disorder with multiple symptoms of an unknown cause. It cannot yet be classified as a disease and some of the suspected causes can be attributed to your lifestyle. It's given a name to make people think they are not crazy. Oh, and so insurance companies can get paid.
With the facts I have stated let me point out that addiction can't be a disease because addiction is not contagious, infectious, genetic, cellular or a general failure of the organs etc that can result in death if not treated or cured. Addiction can be treated and cured and if it's not you will not die. You will die from diabetes, you can die from Lyme disease. Although rare you could die from a disease caused or linked by EBV.
And let me point this fact out for you. Homosexuality was once regarded as a disease. While I believe it is largely attributed to genetics you're not going to die from it. You could end up with HIV/AIDS and die, but so can heterosexuals. Is being homo an abnormal function of your body? Only if your "God" says it is. Are either a disorder or a syndrome? Nope.
Apart from being scientifically baseless, the disease model undermines hope, fails to end stigma and doesn’t always get addicts the help they need. Do they need help? Some do. Still not a disease.
Yours truly,
Gay, majorly depressed schizo affective, overweight addict/alcoholic with high blood pressure, a family history of heart disease and cancer and no STDs ever because I'm not an uneducated moron that thinks only fat people have diabetes.