Drug Addiction Stories & Info

I certainly never figured that my sweet little girl would ever become a drug addict, but she did. I watched as she became more and more reclusive and began to avoid family and friends. At least, friends that didn’t share her love of drugs. The hardest thing I’ve ever had to do was watch my beautiful, giggling little girl become a miserable, pathetic thief and drug addict.

At first, she would ask for money. Apparently that wasn’t enough to feed her habit. After a while, she stopped asking, but I would be missing money from my purse. I didn’t want to believe she was taking it at first, but then even her little sister had money come up missing. After a while, given the missing money and her behavior, I had to admit to myself that she was an addict. Confronting her with it was one of the most painful experiences of my life. She began screaming at me, calling me names she never had before. Suddenly it was as though it was my fault all of this was happening. Her addiction was my fault? In the mind of an addict, I guess so.

Soon, I was “the bitch”. I was the one who was responsible for everything that ever happened to her. She didn’t have a problem, I did. She wasn’t an addict, I was a bitch. To her it all made sense. To me, it made me more determined to get her help. The more I talked about getting her helped, the more she screamed. A few times, she walked out, slamming the door behind her, and left for days at a time. She was out getting high and I was home worried to death about her.  Sometimes she would come back and try to act as though nothing had happened. Other times, she would come back with an attitude expecting an apology from me.

I began to lock my money and my purse up in a lock box. That infuriated her. I also locked up my younger daughter’s money. I began to confront her about her addiction more often, which led to more screaming matches. After a while, I began to stop arguing with her and would just state my view and walk away. After 2 years of this, she finally got “it”. She finally realized that the rules weren’t going to change, that she would have to change. She would have to get help for her addiction. She did it, too. She got help and I got my little girl back. Somewhat worse for the wear, but she was back. Why should drug addicts be helped? Because they may be beautiful, wonderful people trapped in a world of addiction.

In many studies it has been suggested that heredity does play a part in addiction to some degree. However, there are also proof that peer-pressure and lifestyle play an important role. Heredity may be a factor in addiction, but, with the increased drug use in the general population growing every year, the chances of having a family member with an addiction also increases. In this case, heredity may not be a factor, but rather a numbers game.

The fact that your Mother was an addict should certainly make you more aware of the dangers, if nothing else. Even if you are prone to addictions more through heredity, the fact still remains that you cannot become addicted if you never use the drugs. No one is an addict until they begin using drugs. If you already have tried drugs, or use drugs, there still is help available.

Heredity or not, addiction does not simply go away. The sooner one gets addict help, the better. Since you have family members who have had addiction problems, realizing that the potential is there should be enough incentive to get help. If you are using drugs, even occasionally or recreationally, there is a chance you are or can become addicted. The best course of action would be to stop the drugs completely. If you can’t, then get help.

The sad truth is; everyone should fear becoming an addict. It happens so quickly and so easily that the addict doesn’t even realize what is happening. Cases of addiction rise year after year everywhere in the world. Even people who have no family history of drug addiction can become addicts. If there is a family history of drug addiction, the chances are even greater.

Possibly more than heredity, the fact that you learned your coping skills from your parents may play a big role in whether you become an addict or not. Learning to cope in different ways is one of the most successful attributes of rehabilitation. Again, until you take that first drug…you will not become addicted. Once addiction occurs, it doesn’t matter how it started, the important thing is to quit. Virtually anyone who takes a narcotic drug can become addicted regardless of whether their parent’s were addicted or not.

The day he found me in an alley is one I barely remember. I could hear a voice, vaguely make out a face yet I could not tell you what he said that day to save my life. Which is ironic because that is just what he did. 

I was later in a part of the jail block that kept me under medical supervision. I was coming down off of my latest high and could not tell you what day it was. I had not spoken to my family in ages. I was only 19 and I was a heroin addict. My family had enough of all the drama and had frankly told me not to come back unless I was clean.

When the officer approached me, I figured it was with the evening meal or something just as common with jail house rules and all. He asked if I remembered him. I looked at his face and shrugged no.

“I was the one who found you in the alley four days ago. You were pretty messed up, Son.”

I had some heroin in my pocket and because of that they were holding me. The officer had ran my background and was pleasantly surprised that even though I was an addict, I had not committed any crimes aside from that. It had been my first offense.

He came to see me every day and we talked more and more after I got over my initial wariness. When I was called before the judge after my detox, I was asked where I intended to go and told I would be court-ordered to attend rehab. Then a voice from the back asked “May I approach the court, Your Honor?”

I turned and it was the police officer who had found me and arrested me. He came forward and said he would like to take responsibility for me if I could be released to him. He would take me directly to rehab and assured the court that I would meet its requirements. The judge asked “Are you sure you want to do this, Officer Malone?” He said yes.

Officer Malone drove me to rehab. He visited me and when I got out he took me to his home and showed me the guest room. Then he helped me get a job in a sporting goods store at the mall. I stayed clean and on my birthday, I received a call from my parents. They said Officer Malone had kept them current on my whereabouts and condition. I told them I wanted to stay in Colorado and did not want to return to New Mexico and they understood.

After I got off the phone, I asked Officer Malone why he had gone to so much trouble for a drug addict. He pointed to a picture of two young teen boys. “That’s me and my brother. He got messed up on drugs while in high school and overdosed. You look a lot like him and by helping you, I felt like I was doing what I did not have the power to do back then for him.”

My life turned around that day in the alley because of Officer Malone. I am now in college and was recently made assistant manager of the sporting goods store. Passing out in that alley was the best thing that could have happened.