Heroin

[Caffo00]

My mam died from a heroin overdose when I was 7 and eventually my older brother started taking it too. My dad's an alcoholic and the only other person in my house who doesn't take anything is my other older brother who doesn't get on with my dad so he's hardly ever at home. I'm afraid my brothers gonna overdose like my mam and I dont know what's gonna happen my dad. Should I say something to them?

[bob97]

I don't think that will do anything but get them mad at you. You can never stop an addict. They need to stop themselves. The situation your in sucks but the only thing you can do is call the cops on your brother for the heroin and I don't think you want to do that. Good luck

[phuckphace]

the above poster is correct, with the exception of "they need to stop themselves" (they can't). you can't reason with a drug addict, because their minds are being altered by an addictive substance that has spiraled out of their control.

the right thing to do now would be to call the authorities.

[Caffo00]

I know I should but I feel sorry for him and I don't wanna see him in jail plus, he won't want anything to do with me if I do that so that will be two people in my family I lost to heroin.

[ImCoolBeans]

Perhaps rather than calling the authorities, get another family member involved. Somebody who is close to your dad, on his side of the family? I'm sorry that you're going through this.

[CosmicNoodle]

the above poster is correct, with the exception of "they need to stop themselves" (they can't). you can't reason with a drug addict, because their minds are being altered by an addictive substance that has spiraled out of their control.

the right thing to do now would be to call the authorities.

This^

My "friend" got addicted to Heroin after he left school, ruined his life. I reccomend you call the authoritys to try and get them both help

[NathansPen]

yes you definitely have to say something to them..you have to start up a conversation, discuss all the issues you're going through.. start it with a mellow approach though.. all the best!

[AlexanderTheGreat]

I would say talk to them because it is clearly getting to you. But bear in mind that a drug addiction is an addiction, for an addict they won't give a crap whether it is illegal or someone is in the way of the drug. They want the drug. Now I don't know how they'll react. It may be very calm or it may be very violent. There are usually people at school you can talk to.

[lifelies]

This^

My "friend" got addicted to Heroin after he left school, ruined his life. I reccomend you call the authoritys to try and get them both help

Okay you're so so wrong.

Why would he want to call the authorities? He would be charged with heroin possession, at the very least.
Basically if the authorities are involved he would go to prison. Now, you may think he'd rehab in prison. No, he wouldn't. There are drugs in prison too. Also a prison's environment wouldn't help rehabing at all.

The best you can do is talk to him about harm reduction (HR). Overdosing on heroin isn't something that you intentionally do. Because of its illegal status, you don't know what grade of purity you're getting. A certain dealer's heroin may be 70g of heroin/100g of product, whilst another one's could be 10g of heroin/100g of product.
When you take a drug, your body makes up a tolerance: you get used to it. If an addict is used to a certain level of (low-)purity and suddenly he switched to a more pure heroin, without knowing, he may overdose.
Harm reduction tries to avoid overdosing, and also teaches addicts how to avoid the common risks of being an heroin addict: AIDS, hepatitis...

The first thing you should do, though, is to realize he's just sick. He does have an illness, and no one should blame him for having it - it could as well have happened to you.
Addicts are human too.

[phuckphace]

yes because people randomly develop heroin addictions through no fault of their own.

when you make the choice to use a dangerous drug fully aware of its harm potential, you carry 100% of the blame for your condition, no exceptions. drug abusers are a net cost to the community and society in general, and they do so because of their own (very poor) choices. not to be tolerated, imho.

[lifelies]

yes because people randomly develop heroin addictions through no fault of their own.

when you make the choice to use a dangerous drug fully aware of its harm potential, you carry 100% of the blame for your condition, no exceptions. drug abusers are a net cost to the community and society in general, and they do so because of their own (very poor) choices. not to be tolerated, imho.

You are definitely so wrong. Society just brainwashed you, but do you actually have any background information on the matter?

To explain it easily: some people are prone to impulsive behavior, e.g. drug abuse. DRUG USE IS A SYMPTOM, NOT AN ILLNESS.
Some disorders, like Borderline Personality Disorder (I suffer it myself), make you feel so void and just make your life horrible, so horrible that you feel like you *need* to do something. This something can be promiscous sex, drugs, self harm...
Most drug users start using for auto-medication purposes.

If psychiatry didn't have to social stigma that it has - and people were more widely and accurately diagnosed with mental disorders, this probably wouldn't happen.
Psychiatrists don't realize that not all the patients are the same, not all of them will react the same to the same treatment. Thus some kind of therapy (e.g. DBT) will be needed, PLUS a more close follow of the medical treatment.

YOU could also have felt weak some time, and have just let peer pressure win, try heroin and end up being a junkie. You don't want to accept that, but you COULD. You're going to tell me you're never going to do drugs, but let's face it - we all have said it. Junkies said it too.
I knew all the facts about drugs - why I shouldn't do them, their consequences... Hell, we all say we'll never smoke cigarettes and most teenagers try them - same with heroin.

Do you blame people with cancer for dying?
Then don't blame unstable people with an underlying condition for having made bad choices, because we all have.

Just in case you're still not in touch with reality: you WILL also make bad choices, you will regret those choices, and maybe you'll ruin your own (or someone else's) life. Just because now you say you won't, doesn't mean you won't. People change. Lifes change.

I once spent a whole afternoon trying to sell my body just to get my fix. Do you think I ever wanted to end up like this?
Shit happens. Get over it. Don't blame people because you sure wouldn't like people to blame you if it happened to you.

[were80]

Talk to him that your scared of him dying, pretty sure he wants to stop too but he just can't control it.

[Sordid Saint]

yes because people randomly develop heroin addictions through no fault of their own.

when you make the choice to use a dangerous drug fully aware of its harm potential, you carry 100% of the blame for your condition, no exceptions. drug abusers are a net cost to the community and society in general, and they do so because of their own (very poor) choices. not to be tolerated, imho.

People don't develop addictions randomly, but it does happen for a lot of random reasons. And a lot of the time, those "bad" choices that you're talking about are made with no thought of good/bad at the time, or maybe no thinking at all. People don't do drugs like that just to do them. They want a certain feeling for whatever reason it is. And for a lot of people it's the only way that they can get the feeling they're looking for. Also, heroin addictions a lot of times don't start off at heroin, they start at another form of opiate which is usually a pill like percocet or oxy or codein, and there is a high chance you've consumed that in your life.

So please don't devalue people who have been addicted to drugs like that, they in fact are NOT worthless and are people too. Some people take offense to being judged like that. If you were sent down one of their paths, you might just as well end up in the same place as them. Btw, there are some people who stop on their own without being a "net cost" to the perfect society we live in lol...

OP, just tell them that you are concerned but DON'T try to force any thoughts about stopping into their heads. Whenever someone has tried saying that to me, it just made me want to use more lol. Just let them know that you're concerned and tell them to be careful. Maybe tell them that they can talk to you if they ever need to? idk how they would feel about that though. Like everyone is saying, neither of them are going to be able to stop until they are ready to and they want it. Once they feel like they truly WANT to stop, they will have all the power they need :) I quit my addiction before this way, but sadly i didn't get the help i need to know how to fight the cravings to use when i get depressed or bored or lonely etc. so i still mess up sometimes. I hope everything goes well for you and your family :)

[Cognizant]

My family is different.

My dad was an alcoholic who would drink beer every night. He never got drunk, but I would sometimes wake up in the middle of the night to hearing him throwing up cause of alcohol poisoning. It was pretty bad.

He went to a our family therapist about it, but the only reason he really stopped was because my sister was getting depressed over his alcoholism. Before she expressed it to him, I feel like he had no clue how much it was hurting all of us.

So i suggest using your judgement, and play out the scenario in your head. If you see them getting angry at you, then definitely talk to someone else about it. However, if you think they'll listen to you, give it a shot. Tell them how much it concerns you.

[Caligari]

I don't think that will do anything but get them mad at you. You can never stop an addict. They need to stop themselves. The situation your in sucks but the only thing you can do is call the cops on your brother for the heroin and I don't think you want to do that. Good luck

I agree 100% with this.
Addicts can stop themselves, my father was an alcoholic for a long time, when he finally lost everything and learned he needed to stop for his health, he stopped without any outside help.

DO NOT CALL THE COPS on your brother.
The police don't care about your brother.
As they say addiction is a disease, it requires treatment not punishment.
Possession of Heroin is a felony, if your brother becomes a convicted felon, he won't be able to vote, be intelligible for food stamps and most importantly will find it harder to get a job due to his record

All of this will make it harder for him to quit because it makes it harder to re-assimilate into non-addict society!

Whatever you do don't even think of calling the authorities!
I know you mean well.
I wish your brother and all your addicted family members the best.