Wherever you be, wherever you may, seek the truth, strive for the beautiful, achieve the good.

I didn't cause it. I can't control it. I can't cure it.

We deny the severity of our loved one's problem not because we are naive, but because we can't know.

Openness is the first step toward recovery... addiction remains a secret because of the overwhelming shame associated with it.

Anyone who has lived through it, or those who are now living through it, knows that caring about an addict is as complex and fraught and debilitating as addiction itself.

At my worst, I even resented Nic because an addict, at least when high, has a momentary respite from his suffering. There is no similar relief for parents or children or husbands or wives or others who love them.

Through Nic's drug addiction, I have learned that parents can bear almost anything....I shock myself with my ability to rationalize and tolerate things once unthinkable. The rationalizations escalate....It's only marijuana. He gets high only on weekends. At least he's not using hard drugs.