Recently Jacob and I were invited to Winnipeg, Canada to speak to families, students, and those still struggling with addiction. We learned that Winnipeg is at the very center of North America – a crossroads for all types of trafficking – sex, as well as drugs. Regardless of crime or geography, what struck us most …
Often a parent will ask, “Should I send my child away?” In other words, does geography matter? When Jacob finished his 14-day stay at an Annapolis treatment center, the counselor suggested we send him to Florida to continue his rehab. Aha! That was the answer. Getting him away from the drug dealers and drug users …
I’ve always admired journalists. A journalist who spends years researching a difficult subject – sacrificing personal time with a ferociousness to educate the rest of us – is someone to admire even more. That’s how I felt recently when I met Beth Macy, author of “Dopesick,” at a charitable event in Washington DC. Other journalists …
How many times did I say this as my son grew up? How often did I repeat them in the troubled days of his active addiction, sometimes at the worst times? I recall saying it the evening my husband and I returned from a meeting at the high school where Jacob’s advisor warned us: your …
The first time I read that word my son was fighting for sobriety. He was early in recovery and I was reading everything I could about addiction. Ann Dowsett Johnston, author of “Drink,” describes our society as ‘alcogenic,’ meaning a “’drinking culture.” Because so many Americans drink, social events revolve around alcohol. On weekends we …
Recently I overheard a young man in recovery talking by phone to his mother. A distance of several states separated them. But it sounded like the distance was far greater. The man – barely out of adolescence – was downloading details about an incident at his job site. By his raised voice and staccato phrases, …
Going to AA meetings with Jacob during family vacations has become as routine as visiting the “100 Flavors” of ice cream on the boardwalk each evening. But this year held a highlight. It began when I learned that a close friend from Annapolis was vacationing the same week with her family nearby. Nine years ago …
So much is written about how to survive when someone you love is in active addiction. But what happens when recovery begins? When Jacob was using, I lost him. The son I’d raised, the son I wanted, was gone. But once he stopped abusing alcohol and other drugs, the son I loved began to re-emerge. …
It haunts me every time. Recently, it was a close friend, a father who is living the nightmare of his son’s active addiction. Complicated by the young man’s mental illness, this father’s not sure which came first – the drugs or the mental sickness – but the heavy marijuana use thwarts any effort to find …
Recently a mother suffering the effects of her son’s substance abuse asked me why I still attend Al-Anon meetings. That evening she was celebrating her loved one’s newfound sobriety. He was six months clean and she was overjoyed to have him “back.” While I celebrated with her, my instinct was to caution her. There is …