Drug addiction impacts families with traumatic devastation, destruction, and unbearable grief. Family members become frustrated and distraught. The whole family dynamic is turned upside down. Friends and family members enable the manipulating addict by giving them money, a place to stay, or cover up for their behavior in hope of saving their loved ones. Children suffer because many are neglected by their drug induced parents. Babies are born addicted to hard drugs and suffer defects or, painful withdrawal because their mother couldn’t stop using while pregnant. Family ties are often cut because it is too overwhelming and painful to deal with. Not only does the addict need treatment but so does the family. I could stand here and show you charts and graphs on how addiction impacts a family. Instead, I am using the most credible source I have, my own personal experience. I have personally endured pain, heartache, and suffering that addiction has caused within my own family unit. I am a mother of three wonderful children whom I adore with all my heart and soul. Unfortunately, two of them suffer from heroin addiction. I have witnessed the near death of my oldest daughter, as I sat in the intensive care unit for eight days wondering if she would pull through. She had contracted a staff- infection which caused damage to her heart and other health problems. I was told she had twenty minutes to live and she was put on life support with a slim hope of any recovery. That near death experience didn’t stop her from relapsing and being thrown back into the destructive, downward spiral of the lifestyle of addiction. I was there when her beautiful daughter was born addicted to opiates because she couldn’t stop using during her pregnancy. I sat in the NIC unit and rocked my granddaughter while she detoxed from methadone and heroin. I desperately searched through seedy parts of Baltimore to try and find her, only to learn she had been on a street corner selling her body to support her habit so she would not be dope sick. My granddaughter, who is now five, has witnessed things a little girl should never see. I am grateful I was able to bring my grandbaby to live with me. She has a normal little life and enjoys being a five- year -old child. The saddest part is the fact that my daughter truly loves her little girl. She has been in and out of treatment numerous times for over twelve years, It’s the guilt and shame that eats her alive on a daily basis and perpetuates her self-destruction. My daughter went from being a cheerleader and popular student to a junkie suffering from addiction. I am happy to say that she left yesterday to make another attempt to beat this cunning and baffling disease. I pray this is her final try.
I also mentioned that I have a son who got caught in the misery heroin addiction. My son was a football player and a popular kid with lots of friends. We lived in a safe