Topic : 05/17 Brandon Behind Bars

It may be a good idea for you to educate yourself on this subject. Addiction is a disease. Talk to any person working in the medical field.  

When people choose to smoke cigarettes, use microwaves, cell phones, drink diet pop they are also taking a risk of getting cancer.  No different than taking a needle. One doesn't know if an addict as much as one knows if they will get cancer. Life is a risk princess... Yes, drugs are bad and so are a lot of other things.  

Hopefully nobody close to you ever has this issue. I am sure they will not be able to come to you for support. They will get slapped down, locked up and you will throw away the key.  

Along with the painful withdrawl herion addicts are also sometimes dealing with a change in brain chemistry. That is why they sometimes are much more successful on methodone maintainence as a long term treatment option. The methodone helps return their brain functioning to the level it was before using. It becomes a physical problems. 

I guess choice depends on your definition, since many people who "choose" drugs are mentally ill, or made a bad choice at an age where they weren't thinking through consequences and are now addicts. Unfortunately, this choice has life time consequences. Of course so does mental illness, something nobody asks to have. 

This is a very sensitive subject for me.  My heart goes out to Brandon's family...because I too am "serving time".  My beautiful son is currently in prison....and I understand all too well what that does to a family.  I wish people who haven't walked in our shoes wouldn't judge our children or us so harshly.  Until you have a child that you love with all your heart taken away and locked away you can't BEGIN to know what we are going through.  My son did wrong...I admit that and I am supportive of the fact that he needed to be punished.  He stole 3 CD's from a local store and as a result of there having been a box knife in his vehicle when he was stopped, he received a 10 year prison term for this offense.  He never used this "weapon"...but it was there. YES he did wrong..and yes, he is serving time for his offense....but so am I, his mother, serving time.  I love my son unconditionally....and he knows I don't condone what he did.  But he is my son, and he was under the influence of drugs at the time this happened.  Drugs is a fight we had been fighting for some time, and I can only conclude that after all my prayers that my son not go to prison were ignored by God, that perhaps God knew better than I what my boy needed at this time.  Perhaps his prison sentence was given to keep my precious boy alive...I don't know.  But I do know my heart aches every time thoughts of my son come into my mind. I too am serving time...his wife, and his two sons are serving time as well.  On a positive note, this has made a huge change in my son's attitude and outlook on life.  I see sincere remorse, and a determination to make something of himself when he gets out.  So to Brandon's family...I say hang in there....love your son, and support him....and to all those who want to judge our children I say IGNORE them....they don't have a clue. 

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