Addicted Parents Get Their Fix, Even With Children Watching

The opiate crisis in New England has been taking its toll on children. Pictures and videos of unconscious, drugged out parents with their children in tow have been circuiting the Internet in recent months. Mandy McGowen was one of these parents. McGowen collapsed at a Family Dollar store in Lawrence, Massachusetts after abusing the drug fentanyl. An employee videoed McGowen laying unconscious on the floor and many parents were horrified to see McGowen’s young daughter unsuccessfully trying to wake her. The article then discussed how this event impacted McGowen and what’s next for her. Media coverage of these events are alerting people to the opiate crisis and helping addicts reach a point where they know they need help.

I found the lead gripping, especially because I’ve seen such videos and pictures in the last few months. I thought it was interesting that the author decided to link the video in the lead instead of posting the video itself (I noticed that this happened in other places of the article as well). I wonder if it’s because the author personally didn’t want to show content that could be considered disturbing to readers or if the NY Times itself dictated the decision.

I liked the organization of this article. The lead is given immediate attention and each of the succeeding paragraphs give a brief background of McGowen’s situation. Then, the article branches out and gives more information about the opiate crisis in New England as a whole, how addicts and families can receive help, backgrounds about the drugs, etc. Finally, the author shifts the focus back to McGowen and how this incident has impacted her personally.

This story is newsworthy because it has impact and appeals to human interest. Although the article says the opiate crisis is located in New England, I’m sure that people all over the U.S. can relate to this problem. Also, events such as this tend to tug on peoples’ heart strings, which cause them to read the article and learn more about the problem.

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