Openness is the first step toward recovery... addiction remains a secret because of the overwhelming shame associated with it. — David Sheff Copy Share Image
I spent years searching for effective programs that would lower drug use and prevent addiction. — David Sheff Copy Share Image
Every relapse is dangerous, but often it takes multiple relapses before someone finally gets sober for good. — David Sheff Copy Share Image
“Caring about an addict is as complex and fraught and debilitating as addiction itself.” — David Sheff Copy Share Image
Addiction is a disease like anything else. It's like cancer, like heart disease, like diabetes. — David Sheff Copy Share Image
The tragic fact is that with addiction, like many other illnesses, sometimes you can do everything right and people die. — David Sheff Copy Share Image
Many doctors are stuck in the idea that addiction is a choice, and they don't treat that. — David Sheff Copy Share Image
You know, we think about addiction as a morally reprehensible choice, but addicts act crazy because, in a way, that they are. — David Sheff Copy Share Image
Like most people I knew, I thought drug addicts were the kinds of people we see in doorways in neighbourhoods most of… — David Sheff Copy Share Image
Anyone who has lived through it, or those who are now living through it, knows that caring about an addict is as… — David Sheff Copy Share Image
Having been hit by drug addiction, knowing how many are hit by it and what a big problem it is in our… — David Sheff Copy Share Image
Everybody tells you over and over again that addiction is a disease. But when I read Nic's book I understood not just… — David Sheff Copy Share Image
I'd heard about rehab, where you send people with drug problems, but I soon learned that there's no standard definition of it;… — David Sheff Copy Share Image
Drugs shift the way that we think. So, yeah, the logical thing would be to get help, but that's not the way… — David Sheff Copy Share Image
One of my dearest friends is alive only because of AA. But it doesn't help a lot of people. And everyone is… — David Sheff Copy Share Image
Certain people are more likely to use drugs because of whatever it is: They've suffered some trauma in their life. They have… — David Sheff Copy Share Image
Once and for all, people must understand that addiction is a disease. It’s critical if we’re going to effectively prevent and treat… — David Sheff Copy Share Image
“I tried everything I could to prevent my son’s fall into meth addiction. It would have been no easier to have seen… — David Sheff Copy Share Image
When, you know, when Nic became addicted, I was completely uneducated, and basically everything I assumed at the time turned out to… — David Sheff Copy Share Image
Though addiction is a disease - a brain disease that's often progressive - addicts who relapse are often blamed. — David Sheff Copy Share Image
I don't object to AA at all - only the programs that insist that it's the only way to get clean and… — David Sheff Copy Share Image
Relapse is very dangerous. However, relapse can be a symptom of the disease. Sometimes there are multiple relapses before you get sober… — David Sheff Copy Share Image
If a child had another disease, we'd be open about what we were going through, but addiction is stigmatised and comes with… — David Sheff Copy Share Image
So often we have this image of what drug addiction looks like, and it's not fun. Our loved ones who go down… — David Sheff Copy Share Image
After writing about addiction in a pair of books, I frequently hear from addicts and their family members about serial relapses followed… — David Sheff Copy Share Image
The war on drugs is a joke. We spend $40 billion a year, and the proof that it's a failure is that… — David Sheff Copy Share Image
This stigma associated with drug use--the belief that bad kids use, good kids don't, and those with full-blown addiction are weak, dissolute,… — David Sheff Copy Share Image
Elvis Presley's music said, 'Free your body.' The Beatles said, 'Free your mind.' — David Sheff Copy Share
The war on drugs is a joke. We spend $40 billion a year, and the proof that it's a failure is that any kid… — David Sheff Copy Share
When I was a child, my parents didn't know anything about drugs. They didn't even drink. — David Sheff Copy Share
Nick's mother and I were attentive, probably overly attentive - part of the first wave of parents obsessed with our children in a self-conscious… — David Sheff Copy Share
Having been hit by drug addiction, knowing how many are hit by it and what a big problem it is in our neighborhoods and… — David Sheff Copy Share
Here's a note to the parents of addicted children: Choose your music carefully...There are millions of treacherous moments. — David Sheff Copy Share
This stigma associated with drug use--the belief that bad kids use, good kids don't, and those with full-blown addiction are weak, dissolute, and pathetic--has… — David Sheff Copy Share
It's hard to find someone who did as many drugs for as long and in such dangerous combinations as Nic - spending years going… — David Sheff Copy Share
I chose a rehab center for Nic that was recommended by a friend who had sent her son there. The program lasted 28 days,… — David Sheff Copy Share
“In his suicide note, Kurt Cobain wrote, "It's better to burn out than to fade away." He was quoting a Neil Young song about… — David Sheff Copy Share
Anyone who has lived through it, or those who are now living through it, knows that caring about an addict is as complex and… — David Sheff Copy Share
If a child had another disease, we'd be open about what we were going through, but addiction is stigmatised and comes with shame and… — David Sheff Copy Share
