My Daughter Has a Drug Addiction. What Can I Do?

My daughter has a drug addiction - just got out of prison after 3 years and I know that she is already on it again. When I try to talk to her she gets loud and tells me that she is not doing anything.

Have had many people tell me different and I know from the past what she acts like. I don't know what to do any more ... she was in the half way house which to me was a waste. There was not any kind of counseling.

Now she is out of there and she has a probation officer that will be coming out and to me that's not enough. I'm so afraid for her, and we have no insurance. She has already lost a job. I can't do this on my own and I feel she is going backwards.

She had me fooled so please tell me the next step before this gets worse? She has already overdosed before and she may not be lucky the next time.

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Answer

It's sad that having been in prison for 3 years, that your daughter still isn't ready to really turn her life around and also make an effort to overcome her drug addiction.

You can't do anything for your daughter if she doesn't want to change/be helped. It's a sad fact of addiction - that unless the addict is ready and wants to change, nothing anyone says or does can really help them.

Ideally your daughter should go through a proper drug rehab program to help her beat her addiction. With her being back on the drugs, I'm sure her chances of ending up back in prison also increase dramatically, so try talk to her and get her to understand that she really is playing with fire. Because if the drugs don't get her - chances are she'll end up back in prison sooner or later, and does she really want that?

In reality that's all you can do - whether she decides to listen or not you have no control over. And as much as you're understandably worried about her, you're going to learn to detach/let go regarding what she does with her life, otherwise its just going to drive you crazy.

Your daughter is entirely responsible for the choices she makes - and if she wants to continue making bad choices like continuing to use drugs, she's going to have to live with those consequences whatever they turn out to be.

So do what you can to encourage your daughter to get professional help for her drug addiction, but know that there's nothing more you can do if she doesn't want to listen. And as sad as it is, by learning to let go, you don't get taken down with her if she decides to continue destroying her own life.

God Bless.

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