An alcoholic will steal your wallet and lie to you. A drug addict will steal your wallet and then help you look for it.

Why does it help to read others' stories? It is not only that misery loves company, because (I learned) misery is too self-absorbed to want much company. Others' experiences did help with my emotional struggle.

Once and for all, people must understand that addiction is a disease. It’s critical if we’re going to effectively prevent and treat addiction. Accepting that addiction is an illness will transform our approach to public policy, research, insurance, and criminality; it will change how we feel about addicts, and how they feel about themselves. There’s another essential reason why we must understand that addiction is an illness and not just bad behavior: We punish bad behavior. We treat illness.

I am becoming used to an overwhelming, grinding mixture of anger and worry.

Here's a note to the parents of addicted children: Choose your music carefully...There are millions of treacherous moments.

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

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