Hi,
I have a younger brother who is 31 years old. He has been abusing meth since he was around 18 years old. He used marijuana before meth and was introduced to meth by some unsavory friends of his. At that time, my father was ill with cancer and I think this event of my dads sickness and passing away may have enhanced my brothers drug use. He used to be employed but every job he has had, always turned into a termination due to shady circumstances. He worked at a small gift shop and would steal from the register at least 50$ each day. The owner found out and was going to have him arrested but she was a softy and did not press charges. He has stolen from my mother countless times, my sister, and even myself to feed his habit. His last job he had was maybe about 6 years ago and he got fired from that job for entering to office after business hours to do God knows what. He was able to get unemployment from the state and was living of the government checks for almost 3 years (somehow he was able to get an extension). He spent all that money on the drugs and partying and he would use that free money within a week. He would be up for days then sleep for days, the pattern of a meth head. When he was crashing, he would be the most dispicable type of human being. He would live in filth in his room, would come out only to raid the refrigerator then go straight to his room. He would verbally abuse my mother, when I was not at home. I would frequently get into confrontations with him because he was such a nasty individual on the meth. My mother could not take him anymore and he was forced to leave the house. My aunt who took pity on him took him in for about a year. She soon discovered that he was nothing but a junkie and did not respect he either. At this point our family had an intervention with him and it was quite emotional and dramatic. He was caught off guard and was very defensive about everything. After much talk and many tears, he agreed to get help at a rehab facility, he had no other choice. This was a country club rehab place where my mother had to pull an equity loan from her house that she and my dad paid off. The price tag for the rehab facility was about $40,000. I have to admit, he accepted the treatment and was actually doing well. His physical shape improved dramatically after I visited him 5 months later. His mental state was better as well, I felt like I could easily have a decent conversation with him. He wasn't jittery like when he was on the meth. I felt like there was real hope for him and he could build on this positivity he was getting through rehab. He spent an additional 3 months at this rehab, when an incident occurred involving him and another patient. Bottom line was that the facility could not treat him any longer. My mother was sad to hear this. He wanted to go to another similar vacation rehab place, but my mother could not afford that price tag again. She suggested that he find a halfway house down there since the area was starting to grow on him. He refused. He said that he wanted to come back home, that he has changed his ways and promised he was done with drugs. My sister and I warned her and cautioned against having him move back home. We knew it was a bad idea and he would eventually get back in the game with all his old contacts there. She eventually accepted him back with conditions he would never follow through with. When he came back, the first couple months were ok. He seemed decent but that didn't last long. With boredom and no motivation, it was inevitable that he would turn to meth again. At first he tried to hide that he was on the drug again, but the devil did return and it was obvious you could observe that. My mother turned a blind eye, I guess it was easier to ignore the problem then to accept that he failed her again. He eventually was arrested for attempting to sell stolen property. My mothers house was raided by police, with a search warrant. No one was home at the time and the police smashed the door in and searched his room. They found stolen checkbooks and credit cards and some narcotics. He was set for court And my mom ended up paying for a defense attorney for him for reasons I can't understand. He was facing 5 counts of felonies and I think the maximum penalty was 10 years in prison or something like that. The lawyer made a plea bargain with the da and he got no jail to time, just 3 months of community service and finesses and paying restitution to the victims. In other words he got off lucky. He will still have two felonies on his record. It is very sad to see what the future will hold for him. I don't think he realizes the nature of how serious meth has messed up his life. It's all about him, and he doesn't care as long as he gets high. My mother is it helping him by enabling him, and we have talked about this numerous times, that tough love is long overdue but she will never throw him out on the street. Is there any hope for an individual like this, or do some people reach the point of no return and will never be able to change??
I have a younger brother who is 31 years old. He has been abusing meth since he was around 18 years old. He used marijuana before meth and was introduced to meth by some unsavory friends of his. At that time, my father was ill with cancer and I think this event of my dads sickness and passing away may have enhanced my brothers drug use. He used to be employed but every job he has had, always turned into a termination due to shady circumstances. He worked at a small gift shop and would steal from the register at least 50$ each day. The owner found out and was going to have him arrested but she was a softy and did not press charges. He has stolen from my mother countless times, my sister, and even myself to feed his habit. His last job he had was maybe about 6 years ago and he got fired from that job for entering to office after business hours to do God knows what. He was able to get unemployment from the state and was living of the government checks for almost 3 years (somehow he was able to get an extension). He spent all that money on the drugs and partying and he would use that free money within a week. He would be up for days then sleep for days, the pattern of a meth head. When he was crashing, he would be the most dispicable type of human being. He would live in filth in his room, would come out only to raid the refrigerator then go straight to his room. He would verbally abuse my mother, when I was not at home. I would frequently get into confrontations with him because he was such a nasty individual on the meth. My mother could not take him anymore and he was forced to leave the house. My aunt who took pity on him took him in for about a year. She soon discovered that he was nothing but a junkie and did not respect he either. At this point our family had an intervention with him and it was quite emotional and dramatic. He was caught off guard and was very defensive about everything. After much talk and many tears, he agreed to get help at a rehab facility, he had no other choice. This was a country club rehab place where my mother had to pull an equity loan from her house that she and my dad paid off. The price tag for the rehab facility was about $40,000. I have to admit, he accepted the treatment and was actually doing well. His physical shape improved dramatically after I visited him 5 months later. His mental state was better as well, I felt like I could easily have a decent conversation with him. He wasn't jittery like when he was on the meth. I felt like there was real hope for him and he could build on this positivity he was getting through rehab. He spent an additional 3 months at this rehab, when an incident occurred involving him and another patient. Bottom line was that the facility could not treat him any longer. My mother was sad to hear this. He wanted to go to another similar vacation rehab place, but my mother could not afford that price tag again. She suggested that he find a halfway house down there since the area was starting to grow on him. He refused. He said that he wanted to come back home, that he has changed his ways and promised he was done with drugs. My sister and I warned her and cautioned against having him move back home. We knew it was a bad idea and he would eventually get back in the game with all his old contacts there. She eventually accepted him back with conditions he would never follow through with. When he came back, the first couple months were ok. He seemed decent but that didn't last long. With boredom and no motivation, it was inevitable that he would turn to meth again. At first he tried to hide that he was on the drug again, but the devil did return and it was obvious you could observe that. My mother turned a blind eye, I guess it was easier to ignore the problem then to accept that he failed her again. He eventually was arrested for attempting to sell stolen property. My mothers house was raided by police, with a search warrant. No one was home at the time and the police smashed the door in and searched his room. They found stolen checkbooks and credit cards and some narcotics. He was set for court And my mom ended up paying for a defense attorney for him for reasons I can't understand. He was facing 5 counts of felonies and I think the maximum penalty was 10 years in prison or something like that. The lawyer made a plea bargain with the da and he got no jail to time, just 3 months of community service and finesses and paying restitution to the victims. In other words he got off lucky. He will still have two felonies on his record. It is very sad to see what the future will hold for him. I don't think he realizes the nature of how serious meth has messed up his life. It's all about him, and he doesn't care as long as he gets high. My mother is it helping him by enabling him, and we have talked about this numerous times, that tough love is long overdue but she will never throw him out on the street. Is there any hope for an individual like this, or do some people reach the point of no return and will never be able to change??
