Originally Posted by AAPJ

RR279 - I ran with a pretty crazy crowd when I was younger. Your post reminds me of one fellow in the crowd who had family wealth, was good with the ladies and athletic. In his teens and 20s he faced few consequences despite his gross level of overall addiction. I could not count how many rehabs his family put him in. By the time he was 30 his family and even most of his less addicted friends were fed up with him and he spent most of his 30s just surviving. His addictions were so severe that he became the guy the rest of us used to compare out and convince ourselves that we did not have an alcohol/addiction problem.

I remember him telling me this when we were both in our early 30s. He had visited a doctor for a medical review of his overall physical condition. Paid for by his father of course. The doctor told him he had the body of a 55-60 year old person. It was clear to the doctor that his substance abuse was destroying his body.

Then came the inevitable end. He died at the age of 42. It was January I think maybe February. His father had put him in another rehab facility over the holidays. He met someone in the rehab facility and they got out on the same day. They went to the liquor store together and bought a bunch of alcohol. His new friend found my old friend dead on the couch the next morning.

Looking back on it I think what were once assets for him particularly the family wealth became a liability because their ability to shield him from the consequences earlier in his addiction allowed him to continue using until the disease of addiction became so embedded in his brain that nothing could save him.

I hope your story ends better than his did.