I ended up here because of my brother, he had moderate to heavy pot use since he was 14, was probably using heroin around 18-19 but left town and quit for awhile, alcohol binge issues in his 20's, on to pain pills around 30 and finally to heroin as his current DOC at 33. He was actually a fairly independent creative and productive person until he hit the pain meds. He is in and out of jail at the moment.
After digging through my family history I now realize just how deep addiction runs.
My father was a meth addict in the late 60's I have recently learned, off and on alcohol issues in the 80's and 90's, and while he white knuckle abstained from all substances for the last 10 years he has never been recovered in my opinion and his tendencies scream addict.
My half brother committed suicide 6 years ago, found out he had major alcohol problems and possibly something else (my step dad and other brother won't talk about it)
My mother and step dad are functioning alcoholics and from the moment they get home from work every day there is wine in their hands and thats how its been for ~30yrs.
I now see all my own addict tendencies and while I have managed to stay off substances, I still carry many of the attributes so I am working with a therapist. I guess if there is one thing I can thank my heroin addicted brother for is introducing me to a great addiction counselor
The other thing I can thank him for, helping to explain why my parents were always such self centered people, why I never felt important in their lives. Even though it sucks to know the reason, there is a peace to at least knowing that it isn't you, lol.