Fighting Against Drugs

Fighting against drugs is one of the hardest things for most people. This story won’t be about drug addicts who decided to turn things around for themselves. This story will be about the children who were raised by drug addicts.

This story will help you to see that drugs are one of the greatest enemies to most families. They can ruin every family and they can ruin every person if the person doesn’t use drugs at all.

Fighting Against Drugs

Dan Levin wrote a story about these children who are fighting for a happy ending in 2019. Still, I want to share more about this story because it’s important to know what kind of things are happening.

Layla Kegg is a wonderful girl from Portsmouth, Ohio who is struggling in life because her mother is an addict. She had a normal family and everything was great.

Her mother used drugs when she was young, but she stopped with that and she focused on creating a good life for herself.

Layla’s dad killed himself a few years ago, but she had a stepdad and a half-sister. Her mother was a nurse, and they had everything they needed. Layla loves sports, especially softball and basketball.

Unfortunately, her mother did something that changed their lives forever. She started stealing opioids from the hospice she worked in.

She started stealing them because she wanted to sell them. Portsmouth is full of addicts and she wanted to earn money. However, she started to use drugs too. She couldn’t help herself and she gave in. After a while, she was caught and she had to do a drug test.

She failed, and she lost her job and her nursing license. This was her reason to start using more drugs.

She tried to get clean, but she would always relapse. When she tried to get her nursing license again, and failed, she started using heroin.

Layla would find needles around the house. The house was a mess, and strangers were coming there all the time. Her stepdad was working in a different state, and Layla and her sister were in danger.

Her mother didn’t care for them. She only cared about the drugs. The house was full of garbage and dog feces. Other addicts were coming there to get intoxicated.

Layla’s mom would come and go, and she and her sister were eating frozen dinners or food from cans. There were days when Layla was hungry because there wasn’t enough food.

Layla’s stepdad was sending them money, but their mom started to spend most of it on drugs. Eventually, the mom started a relationship with another man, also a drug addict.

Layla’s stepdad left her mom and her sister had to leave too. Her sister went to stay with her paternal grandparents.

Layla was alone with her mom. She was tired of her mom’s false promises. She was tired of her lies and actions. She even told her mom that it feels like they should both do drugs. Her mom wasn’t doing anything to protect Layla from the world of drugs.

Luckily, Layla saw what drugs can do to a person. She stayed in school and she was a good student. She found comfort in her sport, and she is a great athlete.

Eventually, Layla moved in with her grandmother. Her mom comes to see her sometimes, but she’s not around much. Layla is having difficulties with her grandma because there isn’t enough space in the house and the two of them are sharing a room.

Her softball coach can see that he is at her breaking point. She is filled with emotions and she is confused.

She is not supported and nobody is cheering for her. Nobody is taking care of her. She is on her own, and she is suffering. She feels so alone. Layla likes to be in school and she just wants to do something that will help her to create a good life for herself.

She loves her mom, but she feels like her mom is lost. She doesn’t know what to expect, but she’s not too positive about her mom’s recovery.

She knows that things will never be great. There is too much pain in their relationships, and it’s hard to recover from that. She will do everything in her power to change her path.

Permanent Consequences Of Drug Abuse

Portsmouth, Ohio is one of those places that was ruined by drugs. There are some nice parts of it, but so many people are drug addicts and so many houses and streets look like they’re from the horror movie.

People are selling sex services in exchange for money or drugs. They’re selling everything, and almost every child knows someone from their family who’s an addict.

The authorities recognized the problems. They’re trying to put up a lot of billboards with recommendations for rehab clinics and recovery facilities.

Portsmouth High School is filled with clothes, shampoo, soaps, and showers. Kids love to be there because that means they’re away from the drug addicts in their families.

They can eat there and wash their clothes. They can even take some new clothes. The sad thing is, some of the students don’t like to take the new clothes home. They say that their parents or family members will sell it to buy drugs.

Many children in Portsmouth are also in foster care. Most of them are taken from their parents because of the drugs.

Many children are struggling with basic things in life. They’re hungry and cold because nobody is looking after them properly. Some of them like to stay in school the whole day because they want to avoid their sad reality.

Their living conditions are brutal, and the kids are raising themselves. We can only hope that their future will be better than their present. They don’t even have basic human rights because of their parent’s drug use.

Emotional Burden

Children who are surrounded by drug addicts are forced to grow up fast. They’re not protected and taken care of. They can only hope that their lives will change one day.

They have to do a lot more if they want to see positive changes. They’re on their own and it’s so hard to find the right path.

After all, they’re just kids. One of the saddest things about this is that they still feel worried and sad about their parents.

Some of them feel guilty. 12-year-old girl Candace says that her mother told her that she using drugs because of her. Her mom overdosed a few times, and she was barely saved.

Candace is only 12, but every day she is worried that her mom will be dead when she comes home.

Christian Robinson is 18 years old, and he is also one of the Portsmouth kids. His mom is using drugs, and she told him that her kids aren’t worthy of her getting sober. She doesn’t have a reason to find a drug treatment.

She went to rehab when she was 11 years old, but she relapsed. His brother was born dependent on Oxycodone, and his sister was born dependent on crack. His life is much affected by the drugs, and he plans to join the Marines after he finishes high school.

So many other kids have similar stories. Some of them feel guilty and some of them are told by their parents that they’re guilty.

Many of them were born dependent on drugs, and they even have health problems because of pregnancy drug abuse. But, even though these babies, children, and teens are ruined by the drugs, they still feel something for their parents.

They still feel connected to them, and they’re trying to save them. They’re worried about everything and they just want them to be well.

They don’t think about themselves at all. If they’ve lost hope that things will be better, they’re focusing on leaving. They want to live their lives.

Many of these kids run away from home. Many of them start using drugs too. The situation is devastating. The kids who are trying to change their lives still feel trapped and betrayed. They feel alone and most of the time – they are alone.

They don’t get to have a normal childhood. They don’t get to enjoy life. Their life is hard and they’re all traumatized.

In Conclusion

Fighting against drugs is even harder when you’re not the one who’s using, but someone you love is. You’re affected by it, but you can’t do much.

All this is even worse when you’re a child. Someone should take care of you, but you’re the one who is taking care of someone. Your mental health is compromised.

All these kids from the story are just one example. There are so many other kids with even more disturbing stories. Law enforcement is trying to do something that will help with all the drug abuse and drug trafficking, but it’s hard.

It’s hard to fight against drugs in the United States. People who are addicted are damaged and it’s hard for them to see that things can be different.

Drug control and drug prevention are essential if we want to help. We have to take this problem seriously, and we have to help people who are affected by this problem.

Source – The New York Times