To say Abby Broyles goes hard is a bit of an understatement.

To say Abby Broyles goes hard is a bit of an understatement.


In full disclosure, she’s been a colleague and/or friend to many here at Oklahoma Gazette past and present. And her intoxicated antics at a sleepover with pre-teen girls have been repeated over and over again, from local news sites to the New York Post and across oceans, so we won’t bother rehashing that either.


Broyles took to Medium last month to announce that she’s bowing out of a race in the wake of the media fallout and a suicide attempt. She also admitted that she had been a heavy drinker for more than a decade and has checked herself into rehab to confront that and we wish her the best.


The personal essay she wrote was touching and honest and provided a deeper glance into a woman who put herself through law school while working full-time as a television reporter. But she set that newly-earned law degree aside and jumped into politics. She gave her Republican counterparts a run for their money in her first race and was potentially poised to be Oklahoma’s first female U.S. senator this year. Like we said, she goes hard.


Unfortunately for her, edibles go harder.


Now she has referred to it only as a “sleeping medication” in interviews and while that euphemism may be fair, we know that it’s not entirely accurate. With 4/20 upon us, we’d be remiss not to urge caution, especially with some of these industrial-strength chocolates and neural Chernobyl-inducing gummies on the market.


Because if seasoned smokers frequently shy away from them and an edible can derail Broyles’ steamroller of a career, then most of us don’t stand a chance.


“Now’s the time to take on my own fight that I’ve been running from for 20 years: facing my mental health challenges head on,” Broyles wrote. “I don’t know what the journey ahead for me looks like, but I’m grateful to be alive with a fighting spirit and keep my promise — I’m not done yet.”


It’s never fun to watch a precipitous fall of someone you’ve always rooted for, but it’s a hell of a thrill to watch them get back up again against the odds. And we’re here for it when it comes.

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