We know it happens, but when it happens to someone you know, it somehow feels different.
GC, you have my heartfelt condolences.

Condolences, GC. I have a niece who has gotten mixed up with Meth. More than that really. Such a profound change it brings about. It seems modern chemistry has succeeded in creating substances which can inflame addiction even worse than with anything naturally occurring. Not a good thing.

So sorry for your loss GC, and for the loss of such a young life. Very sad to hear. ☹️

As an ex heroin addict, I can understand what it is.

My condolences GC.

(July 15, 2016 at 7:34 am)Little lunch Wrote: I never used a needle, but all my friends I grew up with did. I know at least half of them are dead.
I'm still in contact with two. One mate is pretty much permanently in D-ward.
The other fella I'm seeing tomorrow. He's addicted to speed and ecstasy.
I see him about once a month and I take clothes, blankets, food and money.
I always clean up and cook a few decent meals.
I am always worried that he won't be there anymore.
Kicked out or dead.
I suppose I realise that that is the way it will end.
Nothing else to say about that.
GC, like other have said, you done what you could.
It's rare to meet someone who got out once they were fully in.

I understand you feel that the support you are giving is right. But is it enabling? That certainly would have allowed me to continue my addictive alcoholic behavior.

No offense.

I can't help it. He's my best friend. We've been friends since age 5.
Everybody else has given up on him. There's no programs left on offer for him.
He's burnt every bridge there is. I just accept him as is now.
We are the last left of a once large group of happy teenagers.

(July 14, 2016 at 11:51 pm)Godschild Wrote: Monday I lost the youngest of the youth I had in a previous church. He was without a doubt a very good friend, I've not been able to sleep very well, was kinda' like losing a family member. I raised him, his older brother and sister spiritually and now I wonder why he died the way he did. When I was active in the lives of this youth group I lost my oldest youth in a car wreck, my oldest and youngest are gone and it just doesn't make a lot of sense to me but I know God will help me understand in time. Now this is enough about me I want to pass on what this young man of 22 told me a few days before he died, I know he would be pleased that you were able to hear this.
 My friend became a different person a few years ago, his papaw died, a man he looked up to with the greatest of respect and then within a couple of months he was diagnosed with diabetes, not sure why this changed him so, he never explained why. Within a couple of years he was doing drugs, his family put him into those short term addiction clinics with no lasting results. Finally they decided they couldn't take it anymore, he was stealing from them and even their friends, so it was get into a good long term help program or go live on your own, he did that he left home. Within months he realized the drugs were going to eventually kill him so he wanted help, I called my niece and she found a good Teen Challenge program in western Kentucky, so I took him there. I wouldn't allow his family to take him because I knew he would talk them out of it on the way, and he knew I wouldn't listen to his sad little stories. He stayed the full year, he was clean and doing well, came home got a job and was doing fine. Well then he found a girl friend and eventually her and her friends tempted him enough that he started drugs again, this time running them. Well a few years later and his abuse of his family by stealing from them including his 4 year old nephew, the thief charges  against him he was off to western Kentucky but this time to be able to run his meth without worrying about having to steal from his family. He met a very nice older couple up there that took him in and gave him a job, well he abused them like he had everyone else just for something that was killing him. Well Monday this young man who was 6'3" and use to be a good athlete died weighing  less than 100 lbs. with his needles scattered all over the room, sad ending for a kid who was so good before he changed. He told me a few days before he died he wish people could know his story so they could see how meth destroys lives and that just maybe it would help someone to save their life. If anyone here is in trouble with any drug he will tell you please quit don't become me.
 I did not write this for anyone to respond to, I wrote it to give some meaning to a young life that was cut short because of a weakness I can't even imagine and he couldn't understand. Please no kudos, instead please listen to a tragic story and find help if you are in trouble.

From my heart GC

Sorry to hear of your loss.

(July 15, 2016 at 6:20 pm)Little lunch Wrote: I can't help it. He's my best friend. We've been friends since age 5.
Everybody else has given up on him. There's no programs left on offer for him.
He's burnt every bridge there is. I just accept him as is now.
We are the last left of a once large group of happy teenagers.

I've got a lost cause friend myself.  People moralize over my treating her like a friend would treat another friend.  I'm tired of hearing about enablers.  Yes, she's a thief...she was a thief before she was an addict and we were friends then.  Yes, she's self destructive.  She was self destructive before she was an addict and we were friends then.  Sometimes I feel like I'm surrounded by people who are holding out simple human companionship like a carrot and being derided for not joining in the pointless satisfaction of it all.  She's my friend....if she turned out to be a damned murderer I'd help her bury the corpse (and if I knew who it was that kept selling her that shit she'd have to help -me- bury a corpse).  So yeah, I cook her food, when everyone else is tired of her shit I listen, and if my friends had to sleep in the dirt then what good is my friendship in the first place?

I'm so sorry, GC.

There have been a rash of heroine users here locally who have passed away, and while I didn't know them personally, I knew their friends who did their best to lift them up. I can't fathom the pain. I hope you find peace.

Thank you to each one who has replied and to those who may yet reply. It's nice to know even with our differences we can still have compassion for each other. It meant a lot to be able to share this, it gave me some real peace so again I thank you. For those who have or are going through this same experience I'm sorry it had to come your way and you have my condolences. Maybe one day people will see that this stuff will hurt everyone who cares about them and not even start. I know this, my friend hoped his experience with drugs will scare others away from them and I do also. If anyone here or anyone who has a friend or family member who wants help send me a PM, my niece and I will do our best to help find a program in their area, of coarse it will be a Christian program, just a heads up so no one will be offended.

GC