beautiful boy

I just finished this really amazing book called "beautiful boy" and I would recommend it to everyone. The book is written by the father of a methamphetamine addict and is about his family's story in struggling with his son's addiction. The book goes through the story from the very beginning-starting with his son's birth. It not only tells the story of how this son became an addict, but how the family deals with it and the author gives a lot of background information about different drugs. My family has had to struggle with addiction, unfortunately, but what many people don't know is that drug addiction is very common and I believe that it's only getting worse. I think it is important that all people know more about drug addiction so that we can work together to prevent it. The following is a combination of opinion and fact about drugs that I have gathered from my experience, things I've heard from others' experiences, and things I have read.

I want you to notice that I said addiction is a family struggle. When one member of the family is dealing with an addiction, it most definitely becomes a family affair. I have not heard of a situation where this isn't the case. When a person becomes addicted to a substance-or probably anything for that matter-they become a black hole/tornado of destruction for the whole family. This isn't to mean that the actual person is bad-they typically are not-but the addiction turns them into something completely different from their normal self. The whole family suffers as they try to revolve around the addiction and may go through denial, co-dependency, and a million other different non-functional roles in an attempt to help rid the addict of their problem.

This book was very interesting to me as I found that the author, David Sheff, and his family's experiences were very similar to my own family. Hearing others stories in rehabilitation and treatment centers I have found many similarities as well. The bottom line is that addiction turns a person into a monster. (I say this with no intent to offend, the person is not the monster, but the addiction is). When a person is addicted to a substance they will go to extreme lengths to get that substance. When they are on a substance they will do and say things that would literally appall them in a sober state. Families of the addicted are often blindsided time and time again because there is no "expected" when it comes to addiction. Substances will take over a person's life and change who they are.

Another reason I really like this book is that Sheff goes into a lot of detail about meth, how it affects people, the history of it, and what he discovered through trial and error about rehab centers. I always think it is good to know more about dangers that are lurking for our kids, our loved ones, and ourselves. Knowledge is power in my mind, and the more aware people are about drugs, the better we can fight against them.

I feel very strongly about this topic because I know how incredibly EASY it is to become addicted to something. Most kids will be introduced to some type of substance during their teenage years. I don't need a statistic to back me up on this one. Teenagers have some sort of uncanny ability to get a hold of alcohol and pot, and you better believe your kids will see it and most likely be offered it at least once. Once a kid tries alcohol or pot, it is that much easier to pop prescription pills or try other drugs. The path to addiction is a short one, Sheff's son went from trying ecstasy once (much more common among teenagers than you would think!) to a full blown meth addiction in a single summer. It is different with each individual depending on their genes, but from what I understand, once a person experiences a high, their brain is more driven to experience that 'good' feeling again and again and with more intensity each time. Once a person has gotten into a cycle of drug use, the body becomes so accustomed to having it that without it intense withdrawal symptoms occur or at the very least severe depression.

After going through the pains of addiction in my own family, I want to do everything in my power to keep anyone I love from suffering through it. I would recommend any parent or anyone planning on being a parent to read this book, or one like it, just so they understand how real and dangerous drugs are and how available they are to your kids. If you are still reading, you are awesome :) Thanks for hearing out my rant and please educate yourself about drugs!