Comments for Struggling to stop using drugs?

by: Ned Wicker

It is natural for a parent to want to help their child, but your letter sounds as though you are more of an enabler than a help.

Addiction is not just the addicted person, it?s the whole family. You need to get help and support in order to formulate a good strategy for helping your son.

Groups like Al-Anon are great, as they understand your situation and can help you go to the right people for assistance. You are not alone.

If your son just moved in and hibernates, that?s telling me that he?s using you. He is making his problem your problem. You say he is ?struggling to stop.? He may not know how.

He needs to go into treatment and get professional help. More than 70 years ago, Alcoholics Anonymous discovered that we all need support, so both you and your son need help.

You may want to have a conversation with your doctor, who can give you some guidance on formulating a plan. Get your whole family involved, and have that family meeting. Together you can help your son. He may say he?s struggling to stop, but that doesn?t mean he wants to stop. He may not realize that he has a problem, but if you ?push? as you say, you fear he may get mad at you and leave.

Addicts seldom know they have a problem. They will deny it when everyone else in the room sees what is obvious. That is why it is important for you to have a plan and follow that plan. Believe me, he won?t necessarily agree to anything you propose.

Recovery from addiction is a lifestyle. It?s important for your son to be involved in the recovery community and let go of the old friends and old places. Piece by piece he needs to rebuild his life.

You can be a part of that, but it will not likely happen if you are going this path alone and if you don?t have support. You may have to administer some ?tough love? and your son may not like it. But it?s worth it.

Addiction robs people of their ability tor reason; their humanity and eventually, if left unchecked, all addiction does is kill people.

You have to be the strong one now.

by: Debra-single mom

My name is Debra and I was like you, I had a son of mine that had lived with his dad from age 7 and came and found me at the ripe age of 19.

Addicted to Heroin, and alernative drugs such as any pill, etc a down affect. I detoxed him myself at home and after that he was doing ok, so to say, 6 years later we moved to the woods, and he found people who had had the same addiction as him, it progressed and I fought it all the way to the point of having the “police pick him up and took him to an “Re-hab” 72 hour hold, My ***.

Sorry about my broad english they released him after 2 hours of being there. A few days later, willing went with me to another “de-tox” center, one of the BEST” so they said, well from all that he had in him, and what they gave him in a 6 hour point, shifts changed, the “personal” man that took over got into an “altercation” with my son, released him, set it up so he automatically got picked up, grand theft.

Here is the Best Part, in our case the worse a family can endure, 4 months or so down the line he gets in with a croud, he is now at the time 25, get him so srewed up, and in control of him, him being soooo doped up that he couldn’t wipe his own a– if he wanted to, short of it,

He is now in a STATE CORRECTIONAL FACILITY DOING 50 YEARS CONCURRENT, SECOND DEGREE MURDER WITH A FIRE ARM. YOU TELL ME, FOR I AM A VERY MAD MAD MOM HOW THIS IS RIGHT, IN ANYONES EYES, NO EYE WITNESSES, ONE LADY THAT IS AA MEMBER, INVOLVED HERSELF DUE TO NOT LIKING HER WORLD SO SHE HAD TO SCREW WITH SOMEONE ELSE’S, OTHERS INVOLVED, BUT ONE STANDS THE TOTAL SENTENCE, MY SON. MY BABY.

GET INVOLVED WITH ALL, LEARN AS MUCH AS YOU CAN ABOUT A FACILITY, ANY AND ALL, I MEAN IT FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART. I GET TO VISIT HIM , IT IS 150 MILES FROM ME, NO VEHICLE, THATS MY DREAM????

THIS IS THE STATE THAT SAYS “WE TOGETHER AS A PEOPLE, WILL AND HAVE THE HELP THESE KIDS NEED, TRUST US????????????