My son
graduated in June 2006 from
If you had
told me two years ago that I would be talking about heroin I would have said
you were crazy! My son grew up in a loving Christian home and went to a private
Christian school until 8th grade. He was a good student, never in trouble at
school, and very athletic. He loved playing ice hockey and played freshman
basketball at FHS.
The first
time I heard about heroin was in November of his senior year. I was at a parent-teacher
conference and the Fraser police had a room with drugs and paraphernalia for
parents to view. It was mentioned at that time that heroin had become a
problem. I did not believe it—no way! And anyway, my son would never do
anything like that because he was too smart. We had always talked openly about
the dangers of drugs.
Then in May
2006—the night of his prom—as the limo drove away I was informed by another
parent of a FHS student that her son, my son and another classmate had been
snorting heroin. I was in denial and told her I thought her son was the
problem! I thought I could handle this on my own. I took him to our family
doctor who did not know how to treat it. I thought it was something he could
just stop! I just wanted it to go away! He continued to slip further into
his addiction that summer. I thought he was doing well. In the fall 2006 he was
going to OCC as planned, worked a part time job and was playing hockey. Everything
was on track but looking back all the signs were there. My son recently told me
during that time he would stop for a while then start up again, and it was
ALWAYS heroin. By October 2007 I did not recognize my son. He was withdrawn,
had lost weight, most of his good friends had stopped coming around, he totally
isolated himself, he was failing school and lost his job. I still had
blinders on and in denial I made a lot of excuses, like he just broke up with
his girlfriend.
In December
2007 he was arrested in Operation Smackdown. I know this saved his life! He was
in and out of rehab for most of 2008—he relapsed several times, could always
seem to get clean but not stay clean. He recently asked for help, said he is
tired of living that life and put himself in a Christian program up north
called Peace Makers.
I also got
help for myself. I started attending FAN and Families Anonymous meetings in
February 2008. If I did not have the support of these two groups, family and
friends, I could not get through this.
There is help out there. This is not just a Fraser Problem! I have a 9-year-old
son at Salk and I am glad he is in a school district and community that cares
and has the courage to try and make a difference. Thank you!
Anonymous1