Addiction in Famlies

great thread to start immy and a very brave admission on your part.
i think there are many people out there with similar problems,but will not admit to it because of the stigma attached..there are apprx 14,500 heroin addicts in dublin, this number has been steady for yrs, i have a personal interest in this as my oldest son has been on and off "the gear" for apprx 16yrs, my wifes family have buried 3 sons( drug related).
now if there are 10 people behind each addict that gives a number of 145,000 affected by the problem, im been very conserative with this number.
i have never went behind the door in admitting that my son had an addiction,and its surprising then how many people will open up to you and say i suspect my son/daughter is taking this that or the other,(i wish i had a penny for each time this has happened to me)its then that you can start to deal with the problem, it can be very very stressful and ive seen it breaking up marriages and putting normally healthy parents under xtreme pressure..in my case my self and the war office stood toghther and tackled the problem, and i think thats very important,addicts can be very selfish /devious people and will manipulate parents /partners etc.. i firmly believe that methadone is not the answer, the numbers on heroin is living proof of this and i have spoke to many addicts and x addicts in the same mindset.