Mom begs people not to help her homeless, drug addict son
A desperate mom is begging people not to give money or food to her homeless son who is a heroin addict, claiming the kind donations are “killing him.”
In a heartbreaking plea the mother, from Cardiff, Wales, explains that she has had to learn to “block the pain” and try to not worry about him every day.
Asking to remain anonymous, she says she’s begged him to stop using drugs and has stopped giving him money after being advised that he’d only spend it on his next fix, reports Wales Online.
As a result she’s asking members of the public not to hand out food, cash or clothes to him on the street, as it’s only “prolonging his drug use.”
Instead, she encourages them to give it to organizations like The Wallich — a Welsh charity that helps homeless and vulnerable people — who have outreach workers who will keep trying to engage with him.
She admits: “Drugs probably will kill my son. I have resigned myself to that.”
The mom explains that her son has been a drug user since he was about 13 years old, when older teenagers gave him cannabis, though they had no idea until later on.
She admits: “I will not say that his life was perfect, as no family life is, but he most definitely came from a loving home, albeit a single parent home, but he had grandparents, aunts and uncles that loved him.”
“He now has cousins that he hasn’t even seen. He used to go mountain biking, loved swimming in the sea, had ski holidays and holidays with relatives.”
The mom says things spiraled out of control in his teenage years but he refused counseling or help from his school and wouldn’t engage with Camhs (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service.)
She says: “Over the years I have had him call me to say he is going to end his life, tell me on Christmas day that he is a heroin user.”
“I have collected him when he has been in no control of his own body on MKAT (the illegal drug mephedrine,) sleeping tablets, Spice (synthetic cannabis) and heroin — you name it.”
The mom has remained in contact with her son’s youth offending workers, probation workers and drug workers, but says the problem lies in that fact that he won’t accept he’s a drug user.
She says: “He will call other users crack heads or druggies, but he will not accept that he too is one of them.”
“I have had to learn to block the pain to try to not worry every day. To trust that my street-wise son can and will look after himself.”
The single mom offered to fund his rehab and pay his rent if he manages to get clean — something she has begged him to do — but her son refuses.
She goes on: “I have asked him to talk to me about where I went wrong, how I could have done things differently, I have apologized for my failings to him as a mother. I have sent him pictures to remind him of the life he used to have.”
Now she has taken the advice of the drug support agencies, who told her not to enable him by giving him money as it would only go on drugs and is urging other people to do the same.
She says: “My son is a drug addict. Addicts need their fixes by the hour and day. They cannot think long term. They cannot face reality. They take drugs to make them feel better.”
“So when you give my son clothes you are keeping him warm for that day and the next. When you give my son food you are feeding him for that day and the next. When you give my son money you are feeding his drug habit for that day and the next.”
“But none of this will help him in the long term as none of these are a long-term fix. You are, in effect, helping my son to meet his short-term needs with quick fixes.”
“Drugs probably will kill my son. I have resigned myself to that.”
She says her son, whom she hasn’t spoken to in weeks as his phone is dead, needs to hit “rock bottom” before he’ll be prepared to get clean.
The mom concludes by warning people that by giving him money, food and clothes, they are prolonging his drug use — something he will eventually die from.
She adds: “I would like to have my son home with me for Christmas, but while drugs have such a hold over him this is not possible.”
“Please make it possible for my son to be with me next Christmas and not in his grave.”