YCNBR serves on a couple different county coalitions/boards. One is the Prevention Coalition. We know these stats and we see the connection to the loss of life in our community and others. The chemically altered brain is something we are just beginning to understand.
An interesting aspect of our community, there is a problem yet there is very little dialog about it. Parent meetings put on by schools are notoriously poorly attended. So when we saw this response from a passionate parent we thought it would be interesting to share.
You may not agree, it might even make you uncomfortable or angry. But, if it does stop yourself. This is a real problem suffered by wonderful kids from loving homes….. Read on and thanks to our guest blogger
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Lets get real; Love them enough to say NO
This (Heroin use) is not embellished by any stretch. In the late 80’s heroine was alive and well only difference was you had to hike it up to city to cop at a shooting gallery where the dealer would lower a basket from a rafter you’d stick your cash in and hopefully you would get your dope in return.
No I did a lot of things heroine was not one,but my friends who did are all dead!
One after another dying with a needle still in their arm. Heroin is the most addicting drug out there; it’s very cheap, very accessible in the back yards and corners of our neighborhoods. Get the image of a scratching drooling junkie out of your heads not just teens,housewives,lawyers ,doctors,you name it .
Thats the one enticing thing about addiction, it has no requirements. addiction doesn’t discriminate, it doesn’t judge you based on wealth, success, creed, or race it just takes you under its wing of deception and turns your life into a living hell. Jail, institutions and death! That order folks.
I have no problem breaking my anonymity as a recovering alcoholic, I have been sober 5 1/2 years my drug of choice was wine any kind any color if it took away pain grief confrontation you were my go too! My daughters have no shame when it comes to my recovery they proud to have a mom who takes it 24 hours at a time. I have met some of my dearest friends thru my 12 step program all walks, all races, all creeds, degrees, money, power, but bottom line we all have one thing that never separates us. The addiction to something that made our lives unmanageable.
I am forever grateful that I stopped and got a second chance SOME don’t. I tell my girls I can think of a million reasons not to drink and not one to pick up.
It can be done, parents you are the example. The school is not a babysitting service. They are not there guardians. It is UP to us all of us collectively to speak about drugs and the consequences. What starts our as curiosity, peer pressure,turns to hell!
‘Not my kid’, okay then what about someone else’s? Will you stick our neck out if you see a child struggling? I will, I have and it has never been met with ‘mind your own business’ ,or ‘get out’. It is usually surprise or tears, and ‘thank you for saying something I knew nothing about’.
Snitch?Narc? No! Its called love! Love for a child that is spiraling out of control until he has none and nobody.
Addiction is pain not a pastime, not a habit, and I repeat I never did heroin, probably because I have that disease of MORE and I may have been its next victim. Once, wow! Twice, cool! Three times and your chasing the dragon, your body is crippled and can’t manage without it.
I hear the pain from people who suffer. It never ends well. ‘One more time it will be better different’ until your standing in que at a funeral home approaching the parents; grandparents, siblings of the child that is dead with his or her best outfit on to hide the shame and embarrassment of ‘its not what it seems he or she was good’.
All kids are good, they are human, and they are still immature. They make decisions based on fun. Fun and companionship; not life and the future, to be part of, in, around. They need guidance and support if they have a problem. Shame over their choices as a parent is the least of your worry. NOT losing them should be your top priority. Whatever it takes, however long, however hard, children are a sacred responsibility.
When we become parents we learn every problem or issue is our responsibility. EVERY last one of them from clipping their toenails when they were to young; to making sure they didn’t burn themselves near the stove, to telling them about strangers and how cars speed. We tell them that if the hair on the back of their neck feels funny then something is funny. We tell them about their BLINK moment when you have that split second to do or not to do something and your stomach hurts that’s your BLINK that pit you get is a warning.
Tell them you love them and there is nothing they can’t tell you.
Hey I can holler like no ones around,get pissed off if they bust the new cell phone… all that crap is replaceable OUR children are not!
I said this with all the passion I have for this topic, I lived it and continue to live it ‘One Day At A Time’. I’m not preaching, not blaming, just offering what I have done and my experience with addiction.
Remember: It all starts with the first time; if we can someway make that first time a little more informed. Explain the dangers to them or if you can’t, find someone who can. Tell them that it is life or death not in between. Overdose is not sometimes, its real. If you ever ask an addict in recovery why they stopped they will tell you Because I was going to die if I didn’t.
My door is always open it’s a sober home time of night or day doesn’t matter if your scared or hurt or just want a bowl of cereal just knock…I mean that and those that know me know that as well…Peace
You Can NOT Be Replaced® 