[vivvief]

Well, you have now found out how a lot of people think that it a socially acceptable drug, and a lot of people can just have the occasional line with no real ill effects. However there are also a lot of people out there who cannot control their use and it ruins their lives and the lives of those around them. You are right to make an issue out of it, it can destroy people! You have to decide wether you can trust him not to take any when all around him are, a very difficult thing to do.

[vivvief]

This is not a long post, it is important to say what has happened and is happening now. Only you can decide what to do, but if he has been using for ten years, then maybe wait and see? He is talking the talk, but is he actually seeking help to stop? After ten years I would think that it would be very hard to stop on his own. Maybe take a bit of time and see if the change is real? Hope this helps x

[vivvief]

I will continue first with the rest of the story about my youngest brother. He seemed to be doing so well, his career took him all over the world, he owned his own place and had a few girlfriends in different countries! As he was travelling so much he rented out his place and stayed with our parents when back in the UK. I trusted him so much, that I let him take my ten year old son away for the weekend. While they were away I received a phone call from my Mum telling me that she had found a used syringe in the bin, I was frantic, I had let my son be with a junkie, as this was before I had a mobile phone, I just had to wait, and it was a very long wait. When they arrived home, I confronted my brother and he admitted that he was using again, so as usual I stepped in to help. He moved into my house and stayed clean, we had lots of talking and all seemed positive. After a month he had to go abroad again for work and was returning in three weeks. He phoned me from the airport to say that he was back and coming back to stay with me, I said that could he postpone coming until the next day and he agreed that was fine and he would stay in a hotel in London for the night. The next day we were all waiting for him to arrive at my house, including my parents and children. Instead there was a knock at the door at it was the police, my brothers body had been found in a hotel room in London, there was a syringe by his bed and he had choked on his own vomit. He was 29 years old.

I am sure that you can imagine the devastation this caused us all, and the guilt that I felt, if only I had told him to come straight from the airport, something I have had to live with and try and come to terms with.

I will continue my story about my closest in age brother at a later date and also about the ripple effect of having an addict in the family.

[vivvief]

I don’t know a lot about cocaine addiction, but I do know that it is an epidemic in this country. It now seems socially acceptable to drink alcohol and take cocaine, the cocaine makes you feel confident and talkative and you can keep on drinking! So not an easy thing to stop because it is everywhere. All addicts lie, it is part of the condition, so don’t feel foolish for believing someone you love. I so hope that he gets help and can stay clean, but you have to think about yourself x

[vivvief]

I will start at the beginning. I am the eldest of four children and the only girl, the brother closest in age to me, started using injectable methadone at the age of 15. I knew he had tried it as we have always been really close and he told me, thinking that he was really cool!, I was shocked, shouted and ranted at him and he promised never to take it again. Forward two years, I had left home and got a phone call from my Mum saying that my brother had been caught trying to break into a chemist through the roof and had fallen through the ceiling! As he was young and it was his first offence, he did not go to a detention centre. At about the same time, my Mum found him lying on his bed with a needle in his arm, as a family we were devastated and my parents had no idea about drugs or what to do. Mum was so upset and anxious that she went to her doctor and was prescribed lorazepam, an anti anxiety medication, and so began her lifelong addiction to tranquillisers.

Again, he said that he wasn’t an addict and would stop, which we believed, he had started a good job and seemed well.

These things happened a long time ago, so I am struggling to put them in order!

Anyway, fast forward a few years, I am living abroad and get a phone call from my Mum saying that she thinks that my brother is using again and would I come home for a bit to try and help. I fly back and talk to my brother who again assures me that he hasn’t got a problem. However, while I am home I look at my youngest brother and instantly know that he is now taking drugs. I confront him and he admits that he has used cocaine and that my brother had turned him on to injectable methadone and heroin. We talked and both went to see his GP who was hopeless and just told him to stop! He as well had a good job, which took him abroad a lot and I hoped that going away again would help him to kick the habit. I will continue soon, I am afraid that it doesn’t get any better.

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