You really have to watch out for your kids around people doing drugs. Here’s a story about a woman who passed out in a car with a four year old in the back seat. Cocaine was found on the dash. Obviously, the woman needs drug rehab. Florida, where this incident happened - in Pinellas County, right next to Tampa, a major drug center in Florida -has several good facilities she could go to.

The news story doesn’t say if the child is hers or not.

I’m sure there are grandparents all over the U.S. who worry about their grandchildren because they know the mom or dad is on drugs. Although you hate to do it, it is possible to get custody of the kids. A better solution would be a drug addiction treatment center for the parent(s). Then you won’t have to worry about the grandchildren, or your own.

I remember being in the drug world years ago. One family had a child not more than a year or so old. Both parents were on heroin, although the mother didn’t seem to be doing too much anymore. The dad, however, was not only on heroin himself, he constantly had people over to the house who were also shooting up. Unbelieveable environment in which to raise a child. But, honestly, I barely noticed there was a child there. When you’re on heroin, you’re just too out of it and too disassociated from the real world for that sort of thing to effect you. I don’t know whatever happened to those people - I left town shortly thereafter. But you can be sure they’re no longer together as a family, unless the dad did get into a drug addiction treatment center.

If you know anyone using drugs who’s around children, help them get the drug addiction treatment they need now.

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I read a column online today with a letter from a woman asking “is my boyfriend addicted?” She said he does cocaine and Vicodin and takes Xanax to come off the cocaine high when he goes to sleep. He told her he does it at least once a week and that his friends ‘drag him into it.’ He also uses drugs alone and the night before the letter was written he had gone on an alcohol and cocaine binge. The next day he told her he felt like a loser. Is this guy addicted? Absolutely. At this point he probably is addicted to cocaine and has a prescription drug addiction problem.

He may not be a loser - he could be a great guy. She wouldn’t be with him if he didn’t have some redeeming qualities and the relationship might have great potential. But, honestly, the way he’s going - especially when he’s combining drugs with other drugs, and with alcohol - if he doesn’t get into an alcohol and drug addiction treatment center they might never get the chance to find out.

He’s not a loser. He’s an addict. And he needs help. She can either make sure he gets it, or she can leave him - which is what she is considering doing. It’s not fun taking on a person with a drug addiction problem but, on the other hand, if she can get him into an alcohol and drug addiction treatment center, she may save his life. Whether or not the relationship will continue is another story. But if she doesn’t help him by getting him some real drug addiction help, there’s a good chance no one else will either.

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In Naples, Florida, a man saw a little boy, dirty and covered in bug bites, walking in a ditch along the road. He called the police, who followed up on it, and found their mother  and the little boy’s twin brother in their filthy home with no electricity, nothing in the fridge to eat and moldy food in the microwave and on the dishes piled in the sink. The mother was arrested and her children were taken by social services. Her house was full of evidence of her drug addiction. There are plenty of centers that offer drug rehab in Florida, and one of them could have helped her, and the kids. She is 25 years old.

This, of course, sounds like an extreme situation that could probably never happen to you or your 25-year-old daughter. But I would bet money on the fact that her parents thought the same thing.

I’ve seen similar situations. Things are better if only one parent is on drugs and the other is taking responsibility for the household, the kids, etc. But in a one parent household, things really can get that bad. Drug addiction isn’t pretty.

A next door neighbor commented to a reporter that if she’d known the situation was that bad, she would have made sure the woman got help. The neighbor’s 15-year-old son has spent time in the woman’s home but said he’d never seen her with drugs. An unlikely story, frankly, when the police found white powder scattered on the couch, in the kids’ room, in the kitchen etc. There’s no doubt she has a serious drug addiction problem - in her case, it appears it was cocaine addiction.

This woman’s life was obviously ruined by drugs, although no one really knows what drove her to it. She could find out if she went through a drug rehab. In Florida there are several programs available. However, whether she’ll ever get the chance or whether she’ll end up in the never-ending cycle of drug addiction and prison, no one knows at this point. At least her kids are safe.

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