Hi, my name is Allyson and I am 13yrs old and I wanted to tell my story to people that might understand where I am coming from or what you do not want your 13yr old to go through. My father is an active addict and has been for ALL my life just now I have really seen a lot or I guess just started to notice that my father isn’t in my life. He was always there physically but never for me. He comes home everyday from work and goes right to the bathroom and I started to sneak down the hall and look through the crack in the bathroom door and now I know what my father is all about and why he isn’t there for me. He is my father through the Crack in the Bathroom Door he comes out and acts like a person but not a Dad he knows nothing about me.

The other day when I was showing him my report card he said “Oh ya how is 7th grade going and you are 14yrs old right” I just laughed because I can’t cry anymore. I said “No Dad I am in 8th grade and I am 13yrs old ” I know my Dad now by the Crack in the Bathroom Door and I want kids to understand that if it is your Mother or Father that is an active addict they will never be there in your life even if they are in your home they are not in your life. Be strong and know they love you but they are sick people and need help. I will always remember my father by the Crack in the Bathroom Door and it is so SAD. I am strong and going on in life and I am going to be someone so have faith and be TRUE to yourself no self pity and poor old me because your life has been tough everyone has baggage it is what you do with your life is all up to YOU..!!!!!!

Thanks for reading my story, Allyson

Addiction is addiction it doesn’t matter what it is I finally realize it wasn’t all about alcohol and drugs that I was addicted to him. I was addicted to my life that was in shambles. So I got my head around my life and finally use the court system to my advantage I evicted him from my house and put him on the street the hardest thing I had to do to fellow addict but he was an active addict and I realized he can only help himself. Of course it was all my fault in his eyes and I was brainwashing his daughter against him because he didn’t realize he had already pushed her away by how he was but it was MY FAULT !!! Never the addicts FAULT we know that at least I did because I was where he was so that is another reason it took me so long to do this because I know what it is like out on the street. I deserve better and I finally realized that it took 10 yrs but I GOT IT !!!!

He still tries to make me feel like SHIT any chance he gets because now he has all the answers how to raise our daughter that he hasn’t been there for the last 10yrs. I don’t take her to church like I should and my morals suck because I have gone on and he doesn’t like that I am seeing someone that I deserve to see after treating myself to a life with an active addict. I realize that it isn’t his fault that I stayed with him but I finally loved myself enough to move on. So if anyone can relate to this story I send you my STRENGTH to move on it is always tough to change but if it is better for you and your children PLEASE take my advice and stay STRONG you will make it you deserve better so go out there and GET IT.. You will find it I PROMISE I did and I know you will too.. Have A GREAT Life you can live with addictions and learn to control them I am living proof of that… Love Life You Only Live Once Make The Best Of It !!! You Are A GREAT Person and you deserve everything life has in store for you stay positive, grateful and humble and you will be surprise what happens.

1. Start missing meetings for any reason, real or imaginary.

2. Become critical of the methods used by other members who may not agree with you in everything.

3. Nurse the idea that someday, somehow, you can drink again and become a controlled drinker.

4. Let the other fellow do the 12th Step Work in your group. You are TOO busy.

5. Become conscious of your A.A. “Seniority” and view every new member with skeptical judgement.

6. Become so pleased with your own views of the program that you consider yourself an “Elder statesman”.

7. Start a small clique within your own group, composed of only a few members who see eye to eye with you.

8.Tell the new member in confidence that you yourself do not take certain of the 12 Steps seriously.

9. Let your mind dwell more and more on how much you are helping others rather than on how much the
A.A. program is helping you.

10. If an unfortunate member has a slip, drop them at once.

11. Cultivate the habit of borrowing money from other members, then stay away from the meetings to avoid
embarrassment.

12. Look upon the 24 hour plan as a vital thing for new members, but not for yourself. You have outgrown
the need of that long ago.

The main thing to keep clean is the statement I always go by:
“YOU HAVE TO GIVE IT AWAY TO KEEP IT”

If you see any of these in yourself you need to as yourself “How can I fix this in my life so I
can live a very grateful and humble life.”

I have to give the doll to my mommy so she can give it to my sister when she goes there. His eyes were so sad when saying this, My sister has gone to be with God. Daddy says that Mommy is going to see God very soon too, so I thought she could take the doll with her to give it to my sister. My heart nearly stopped. The little boy looked up at me and said, “I told Daddy to tell Mommy not to go yet. I need her to wait until I come home from the mall.” Then he showed me a very nice photo of himself. He was laughing. He then told me “I want Mommy to take my picture with her so she won’t forget me.” I love my mommy and I wish she didn’t have to leave me, but Daddy says she has to go be with my little sister.” Then he looked again at the doll with sad eyes, very quietly. I reached for my wallet and said to the boy. “Suppose we check again, just in case you do have enough money for the doll.” O.K. he said, “I hope I do have enough.” I added some of my money to his without him seeing and we started to count it. There was enough for the doll and even some spare money.

The little boy said “Thank God for giving me enough money,” Then he looked at me and added, “I asked last night before I went to sleep for God to make sure I had enough money to buy this doll, so my mommy could give it to my sister. He heard me!” I also wanted to have enough money to buy a white rose for my mommy but I didn’t dare to ask God for too much. But he gave me enough to buy the doll and a white rose. My Mommy loves white roses. A few minutes later, the old lady returned and I left with my basket. I finished my shopping in a totally different state of mind from when I started. I couldn’t get the little boy out of my mind. Then a remembered a local newspaper article two days ago, which mentioned a DRUNK guy in a truck, who hit a car occupied by a young women and a little girl. The little girl dies right away and the mother was left in a critical state.

The family had to decide whether to pull the plug on the life-sustaining machine because the young woman would not be able to recover from the coma. Was this the family of the little boy? Two days after the encounter with the little boy I read in the newspaper that the young women had passed away. I couldn’t stop myself as I bought a bunch of white roses and went to the funeral home where the body of the young women was for people to see and make a last wish before her burial. She was there, in her coffin, holding a beautiful white rose in her hand with the photo of the little boy and the doll placed over her chest. I left the place teary-eyed, feeling that my life has been changed forever. The love that the little boy had for his mother and his sister is still, to this day, hard to imagine, in a fraction of a second, a DRUNK DRIVER has taken all of this away from him.

PLEASE THINK BEFORE YOU DRINK AND NEVER DRIVE…. 0% TOLERANCE…YOU NEVER KNOW THIS COULD BE YOUR FAMILY AND HOW DEVASTATING THAT COULD BE FOR YOU.

I’m writing you this letter to tell you how much I love you and always loved you even though I haven’t been the mother you probably thought a mother should be. I am so sorry I let you down so many times I promised you so much and I just let it all go. The bottle was more important because I only knew how to deal with my problems by drinking them away. I promised you when you were born that I would always be there for you, to talk, to listen and mom wasn’t and if I was I was always drunk or had an attitude and didn’t give a shit. Now I can’t be there at all because I am up in heaven looking down at you and your sister crying at my side. If I could just have 1 more chance it would be so different, Mom would be there for you emotionally, mentally and be your best friend. I love you both very much and PLEASE don’t be like me and throw your lives away like your Mother has. Be Strong and be Good you are beautiful girls and I am so Proud of you both.

Love You Both with All
Heart and Soul,
Love Your Mother

So I got my 1 more chance and got Clean and Sober on Aug. 4th, 2001 and I can say I am clean and sober today to be the mother I should of been back then. You can’t live in the past so go forward and I have and it has been AMAZING.

Kevin was in the emergency room of the hospital. Two friends had dropped him off and then left him there. They were afraid-afraid of the strange way that Kevin was acting, and afraid that they would get into trouble. They had all been at a party, and some of the kids were using cocaine. Kevin had been one of them. The next they knew, he was hunched over in a corner, rubbing his arms constantly, and acting as if he were seeing things that weren’t there. He kept talking about flashing lights. He was sweating, and his skin was a strange red color. They took him to the hospital because they were afraid of what was wrong with him. They left him there, alone, because they were even more afraid of what would happen, when the doctors found out exactly what was wrong with him. Now you know who your friends are…

For Bob, the best part of high school had been playing varsity football. He had been good, but then came a stupid injury his junior year, leaving him unable to play. It was during that year, when he was sidelined from football and worrying about whether or not he would make the team his senior year, that he first tried cocaine at a party. For the first time away from the football field, Bob felt powerful and confident. He felt the same thrill that he used to get on the brightly lit field Friday nights, when the announcer would call out his name over the loudspeaker and cheers would echo from the bleachers. It used to be playing football that made him feel good about himself. Now it was COCAINE… How sad just throwing all his dreams right down the drain…

Mark needed extra money. His cocaine habit was getting expensive. At first, he had only used it occasionally with friends. They had snorted it. Then one of his friends had introduced him to smoking it, and quickly found it harder and harder to wait for the next time. He was doing it by himself now, and even though smoking it was less expensive, he was using more and more. He had used up the savings from his summer job. Now he was taking money from his parents and his sister. It wasn’t really stealing, he told himself. He would pay them back when he could. So he took a bit from his dad’s wallet, a bit from his mother’s purse, and a bit more from the allowance money his sister kept in an envelope in her dresser. It is always STEALING and DEVASTATION to YOUR FAMILY and all the one who love you. PLEASE GET HELP!!!

Research has been limited, but on November 28, 2001, the Drug Enforcement Administration granted final approval to a university study of medical marijuana with the hope of introducing some science into this emotionally charged debate. The controversy about whether or not medical marijuana should be legal is widespread. Voters in Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington have approved its use. Arizona has passed a law that permits a doctor to prescribe any Schedule I drug (including marijuana). But marijuana has not been approved by authorities who claim they know more than the voters, and federal law still makes it illegal. Obtaining marijuana, even in a state that has it legal, can be complicated. On May 14, 2001, a decision of the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the challenge by the federal government against 6 California distributors, known as buyers’ clubs. These groups distribute medical marijuana to large numbers of people who have doctors’ recommendations. According to the Supreme Court, marijuana remains in Schedule I because it has no currently acceptable medical use and should remain classified with heroin. This was a blow to those who favor its medical use, but many patients continue to obtain medical marijuana by growing their own. Others get it through friends who buy it illegally, or they obtain it from buyers’ clubs that are legal by state law but not federally illegal.

Campaigns for compassionate use of medical marijuana continue. The National Academy of Science Institute of Medicine released the following statement in 1999: “Until a non-smoker, rapid-onset cannabinoid drug delivery system becomes available, we acknowledge that there is no clear alternative for people suffering from chronic conditions that might be relieved by smoking marijuana, such as pain or AIDS wasting.” But the American Medical Association remains neutral, saying that more research is needed on the recommending it. Some doctors point out that the patient’s dose of marijuana cannot be controlled since the content of THC, the chemicals that produces the desired effect, varies in different plants and therefore in different cigarettes. Marijuana contains many chemicals, some of which actually system. Some say that marijuana is extremely unattractive to most medical patients. Others claim it is very helpful. A British drug company, GW Pharmaceuticals, is developing a cannabis-based drug that has the pain-relieving benefits without the “unwanted psychoactive side effects.” Another drug, Marinol (dronabinol), contains cannabis, but whether or not it offers as much relief as a marijuana cigarette is debatable. Finding a delivery system as good as the lungs is one of the goals of those who deal with the controversy about lifting restrictions on medical marijuana.

Being a Recovering Addict I believe Marijuana is still the GATEWAY to addiction into the addiction. So believing this is the right thing for our future I think we will have MAJOR drug abuse in our society. It will lead to addiction in so many ways. People STRUGGLE to HARD for recovery that this is a NIGHTMARE for addicts. We have enough pain relievers out there to help people in the right way so I am against this to be LEGALIZED. We need a clear mind to deal with our lives and families so if you are reading this and you are in recovery I hope you feel the same way and we can keep it out of our laws. We will have real trouble if this passes.. Thanks for your time and reading this if you are in RECOVERY stay in RECOVERY don’t let this over POWER you.

The only thing different is I have always given him the option to go in to rehab and come home this time I am not going to let him come home. He still hasn’t tried to go to detox because he thinks I am not going to do this but I am. So this intervention is probably going to be a flop but I hope putting him out on the street he will realize rock bottom is there I am not saving him anymore. So if you ever get the opportunity to face an intervention PLEASE listen it is to your benefit to go get help I PROMISE YOU it will be the best decision you will make in your lifetime. You will start seeing what you are missing in life and it is a WHOLE lot. I have been clean and sober for 10 years and I have a lot to be grateful for now that I can see what I was missing out on. So ALWAYS take HELP you will never forgive yourself if you don’t.

We know the three things that WILL happen JAIL, INSTITUTIONS or DEATH…. Nothing else will come of you take that opportunity and RUN with it.

Intervention Will Change Your Life Forever!

Babies born to mother who drink alcohol during pregnancy may have many serious problems. Because the fetus is so small it will be affected by alcohol much more than the mother. Birth defects may occur in babies born to mothers who drink. The babies may have fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) babies may have vision or hearing problems. They may be missing some parts of their bodies. Their internal organs-including their brain-may be damaged. Some are so badly damaged that they die. The risk of FAS is so great that the federal government has enacted a law that requires alcoholic beverage containers to carry warning signs to pregnant women. Nonetheless, many women and teens or older remain unaware of the risk they take by drinking when they are pregnant.

Alcohol is harmful to developing babies, especially during the first three months of pregnancy. Alcohol is absorbed through the placenta (the organ through which the fetus gets nourishment) from the expectant mother’s bloodstream. So Please if you think you drink to much and can’t stop when you get pregnant then you are probably an alcoholic…Please get help for the baby you are bringing into this world so they have a chance they didn’t ask to be here so give them the best beginning they deserve it. DON’T BE SELFISH they are just innocent little babies depending on you as a mother to raise them in love.