Digital Bulletin

08:59 PM EDT on Friday, May 5, 2006

By JOHN E. MULLIGAN
Journal Washington bureau

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy acknowledged today that he has been a pain pill abuser and a binge drinker for much of his adult life, as he sought treatment for addiction on the heels of a predawn car crash that he cannot recollect.

AP Photo

Rep. Patrick Kennedy speaks during a news conference today in Washington. Kennedy said he was entering treatment for addiction to prescription pain medication.

In an exclusive interview with The Providence Journal, Kennedy said, "I've got to do total abstinence, period,'' referring to drugs and alcohol. "From now on, obviously, I'm a very public face with addiction and alcoholism written on my head."

The seven-term Rhode Island Democrat spoke at length in the interview about his addiction and his manic-depressive illness after telling a news conference that -- for the second time in five months -- he was flying to Minnesota for a stay the Mayo Clinic's rehabilitation center.

Kennedy made the dramatic announcement at the House Radio and Television Gallery just after 3 p.m. -- roughly 36 hours after he drove his Mustang convertible into a security barrier near the Capitol, leading police at the scene to report that he may have been drinking.

Kennedy has denied drinking any alcohol Wednesday but acknowledged being on several medications, including a drug called Ambien to help him sleep.

He said he got a prescription for the drug April 25 from the office of The Attending Physician of the Congress.

The U.S. Capitol Police cited Kennedy for "unreasonable speed'' and other infractions but drove him home from the accident scene without testing him for alcohol impairment.

The son of U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., nephew of a late president and member of one of the famous families in the world, the 38-year-old Kennedy said he sought no preferential treatment. But the episode has generated an internal investigation of police procedure, amid lurid headlines and news bulletins nationwide.

Kennedy said he took two doses of Phenergan for a bad stomachache Wednesday evening when he participated in House votes that ended just after 9 p.m.

He said he then drove the few blocks to his Capitol Hill townhouse, where he and a woman friend kept company until they went to bed. Kennedy said he does not remember taking any Ambien but believes that he clearly did.

Nor, said Kennedy, does he remember rising at about 2:45 a.m. to tell his woman friend that he had to go to the Capitol to cast a vote. Kennedy -- calling the incident "scary'' -- said he does not remember getting dressed, driving his car into the barrier, speaking with police or being driven home.

He said his friend -- whom he would not name -- has since told him "she tried to dissuade me'' from leaving the house "and she wishes she had done a better job dissuading me."

Kennedy traced his history with pain pills to a serious operation during his junior year at Providence College that removed a growth near his spine.

He began his path to sporadic bouts of addiction, he said, with Tylenol 3, a codeine-fortified version of the pain medicine, and later moved to stronger pills.

Kennedy also revealed for the first time that he checked into the Mayo Clinic's addiction facility for about three weeks over last Christmas vacation. He said he had known for months that he was unable to stop using "a narcotic painkiller" that he declined to name.

"I've been clean, thoroughly" since returning from that stay, Kennedy said, meaning he has been free of the drug.

But he also acknowledged that he has been taking Ambien periodically for more than a year "because I had trouble winding down at the end of the day.''