An open Letter to my Family

I am a drug-user. I need help.

Don't solve my problems for me. This only makes me lose respect for you.

Don't lecture, moralize, scold, blame, or argue, whether I'm loaded or sober. It may make you feel better, but it will make the situation worse.

Don't accept my promises. The nature of my illness prevents me keeping them, even though I mean them at the time. Promises are only my way of postponing pain. And don't keep switching agreements; if an agreement is made, stick to it.

Don't lose your temper with me. It will destroy you and any possibility of helping me.

Don't allow your anxiety for me make you do what I should do for myself.

Don't cover up or try to spare me the consequences of my using. It may reduce the crisis, buy it will make my illness worse.

Above all, don't run away from reality as I do. Drug dependence, my illness, gets worse as my using continues. Start now to learn, to understand, to plan for recovery. Find Nar-Anon, whose groups exist to help the families of drug-abusers.

I need help - from a doctor, a psychologist, a counselor, from a recovered addict who found sobriety in Narcotis Anonymous, and from God. I cannot help myself.

Your

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