Drug Addiction Stories

He called me that day and said he needed to talk to me.  It was important.  We had been friends for twenty years, ever since high school.  We ran around in the same circle and although we never dated, we were best friends.  The woman he met six years ago and married is also now one of my best friends.

He told me he thought he had a problem with alcohol.  This was no secret to those of us who know and love him.  He has been an alcoholic for years.  Somehow, he was finally able to face it because he had been quite mean and belligerent to his family, his friends and his wife all weekend.  No one was talking to him so he called me, the person who would always tell him the truth even if it wasn’t kind, just as he would me.

I went over and talked to him and his wife for awhile.  Then we called a drug rehab program we had heard about. The counselor listened to me as I gave my friend’s history, then I passed him the phone so they could discuss the rest of it.

My friend had been a four day a week worker for awhile, always calling in on Mondays because of his weekend drinking binges.  Now he was willing to take responsibility because he was afraid to lose his family and he knew somehow he had crossed the line since his wife was concerned to the point where she was threatening to leave him.

It has been just over a year since my friend called me that day.  He checked into a residential program and afterward has consistently attended outpatient sessions and his support group.  His marriage is stronger and he is thriving once again at work.

I have loved my friend for over twenty years.  He is like a brother or cousin to me. I stood up with them at their wedding and we joke about how if they ever split up they get joint custody of me.  However, I see the changes in my friend thanks to his successful treatment program and I really see that his alcohol problem has been resolved.  I am just thankful every day that my friend finally woke up to what he would lose and his life and ours is richer for the choice he made that day to get help.  They are not often told this, but I think drug and alcohol counselors are heroes, too.