If you haven’t been following the news, there’s a heroin epidemic sweeping the United States, and it’s particularly intense in Ohio. One of the things we’ve seen over and over is the effects of this epidemic on the people who love addicts– their friends and families. This is an epidemic not just of individuals who are addicted to a substance, but on families, communities and our country. One mother of a heroin addict, Patricia Byrne, shared her story on ForEveryMom.com, and we thought it was worth sharing an excerpt here to reinforce that point– the heroin epidemic is affecting more than just heroin users. If you, or someone you love, live in the greater Cleveland area and are in heroin’s grip, we hope you’ll reach out
My son Kevin is a heroin addict in long-term recovery. What could I have done differently?
This question haunted me for many, many years. Should I have taken him back to school to get a forgotten book? When he left his report on the counter in fifth grade should I have left it there instead of bringing it to school? He had ADD so organizing was hard for him. Did I do too much? Did he never learn to be accountable for his own actions? Was I too worried about him failing a stupid sixth grade math test? Should I have let him fail and learn the result of not putting in the work instead of making him study against his will? Should have, would have, could have were constantly swirling in my head. Tiny voices blaming, blaming…
Part of the problem is that we just didn’t know. We didn’t know to say, ‘stay away from OxyContin kids, because it will lead to heroin’. We knew to say, ‘don’t drink – alcoholism runs in your family – but if you make poor decisions, don’t compound them by driving. Call us, stay where you are’. We knew to say, ‘Don’t have sex, you’re too young, but if you do, wear protection. If you get a girl pregnant, please come to us, we will work through this together’. We knew to say, ‘don’t do drugs, they are dangerous, people get addicted’. We didn’t know to say, and I wish with all my heart we had, ‘but if you get addicted, please come to us and we will help you. We will be here for you because we love you.’ Of course this OxyContin thing wasn’t on our radar. Who could ever imagine their kid would go so far as to stick a needle in their vein? I’ll tell you, my son didn’t think he’d ever do something so stupid either, even when he was addicted to OxyContin, until he did.
Please click here for the full article.
.