YOU ARE NOT ALONE - A companion online community discussion board for The Mental Illness Happy Hour podcast with Paul Gilmartin

Hi there,
My 18-year-old son is a drug addict. Yesterday, he met with an accident and seriously injured. His dentures got broken and did a partial denture procedures (http://www.inhomedentures.ca/services/partial-dentures/) from inhome dentures, Calgary . Doctor recommended him to avoid using drugs. For one week he followed doctor's instruction and then started using again. I don’t know what to do in this situation. I advised him a lot to get away from using drugs but he is not following anyone. Please advice how can I help my son.
Thanks

I'm sorry you have to deal with this, and I'm sorry to say this, but you can't help your child stay away from drugs. He has to make that decision on his own. If you know he's using and you know he has something in his possession, you can call the authorities - not an ideal situation, but it forces him to face consequences to his actions and hopefully inspires him to make good decisions in the future.

Otherwise, you should go to Alcoholic Anonymous (AA) or Narcotics Anonymous (NA). You don't have to be an addict to go - you can have a loved one dealing with addiction and they will be tremendous resource for how you can help your child (and you).