A Drop in the Bucket

Not the gummie bears I used to know and love.

As I often don’t go to bed until 5 or 6 am, my son suggested I have one of his gummies. “Only 1”? I said.

He said: “You won’t need more than 1”. He hands me this empty little bag. He went on to say: “These are really great! They were recommended to me and not only do they help me go to sleep, they’re delicious!”

Pink Lemonade… Made in Michigan… “Monster Medibles” TM. Premium… Limited Summer Edition… 10 mg 10 x 10mg 100mg. Pretty pick package… “No thanks”, I said with a sigh.

“Don’t you remember Dr. Sheikh wanted to prescribe pot for you?”

“But, that was long ago— and, I have allergies. You know I’m very allergic to weeds and flowers of all sorts”, I said showing no desire, though interested.

“That’s just it”, he said. “There’s very little oils in it.”

“So that’s why you went to sleep so early last night? How many did you take,” I asked?

“Only 1… they’re very tasty about as big as a Mentos but flatter. And they’re only 10 dollars for 10!”

“Hmmm… I’m thinking to myself. My tooth does hurt. Nope, nope, nope! I don’t think I can stop at one.”

Brought back memories. I remember the days when he was a teen and smoked pot all the time, just not in the house. Today, it’s all legal. Phew. Glad about that. Wonder how the pot industry will be in a decade or 2? Different story.

But in days of old, his 6th grade teachers called me telling me my son needed an intervention. “What? Just what kind of intervention,” I exclaimed.

“Well, he said: ‘he loved pot more than anything in the world!’”

So I ended up taking him to “Growth Works” a drug program which very expensive, very expensive. But, hey to save my kid from drugs? I’m in. They interviewed all of us, even his father. The main counselor there, Paul, hated my ex after interviewing him. He even hated him more than I hated him.

My son didn’t make it through the whole program. He quit in the 5th week. They had sort of a “tough love” type approach to drug counseling. It meant confronting the kids, shouting at them into submission. It meant that I had to attend group therapy sessions. I was not quiet. I should not have talked so much, but that is not my way, I often put my foot and whole leg in my mouth. But, hey?

So at that moment in time my son would leave in the middle of the night an drive my car around down town. I had not know this. But, the second time he did it, he was caught by Joanne our housemate. Joanne told me. Apparently, he was a pretty good driver as he didn’t cause any damage and how he didn’t get caught by the police is beyond me.

So not only this, but the counselors from “Growth Works” came into my apartment, with my permission, and took of the door to his bedroom. Took all his movies, he had around 400; all his music, also, extensive. And, his designer clothes. They told me to buy Walmart jeans. Talk about LIVID! My son was angry, shocked, hurt and more determined than ever to smoke pot. He told me later in life he hardly smoked, but once or twice, but then he decided he was going to smoke a lot more. Once when we were at a 7 Eleven, my son saw his marijuana drug dealer there and proceeded to go buy pot. I was so angry, I went over to the little red car with the older, but still young guys and told them: “Leave my son alone. And, that I would go to the police and give them their license number if they ever, ever tried to sell drugs to him, again!”

My son yelled, “Stop, mom— just stop! Once, inside our car, with shock and disbelief he said: Don’t you realize they could have killed you! Don’t DO THAT!!!”

Well, to me, I thought I wanted just to nip it in the butt. I didn’t want my son dying from drugs and I had it. Later none of them would have anything to do with my son. They wouldn’t even talk with him. So where did he get his marijuana? From friends in High School. Many, many kids smoked pot back then, as did many, many parents. My son’s girlfriend’s mother was a horticulturalist and grew her own. The only time girlfriend’s mom got mad at her daughter was when her daughter stole her stash and smoke it all. That’s how it was back then.

He said, that “Growth Works” was the worst experience he ever had and that being there introduced him to kids who did heroin, coke, meth, LSD, DMX, and mushrooms. He said, that he hadn’t even known anyone that used any of those drugs prior to “Growth Works”, but learned quickly. It scared him. It scared me even more. Some boys came in wearing bright orange lipstick and dyed hair, others wore army boots and goth attire, the girls wore skimpy outfits.

The sad part about the whole “Growth Works” experience was that there were deaths. One family lost their son to an over dose. A year later, they lost their oldest son to suicide. The kid with the lipstick changed and got off drugs and stopped showing his homosexuality. But, a year later, he went back to both. (Why homosexuality was a problem, I don’t know.) There were other deaths. A father of one of the boys died from emphysema. There were divorces and people cheating on their spouses. It’s difficult when one’s sponsor cheats on their sponsee with the sponsee’s wife. And, then when the young kids who were still badly addicted, went around selling their bodies and souls for some drugs. These kids were the most wounded and ashamed. Death knocking was upon their doorsteps. One kid, who was a close friend, died from eating too many Coricidin HGB tablets. It just rot and ate his whole stomach up.

But, there were triumphs as well. Many, many kids became drug free. Families were restored. Counselors helped these young adults get good jobs, some even got jobs with the FBI, some became computer information experts. The counselors never got paid what they were worth, but they each deserved there pot of gold, I say. However, my son hates them all still. He said they made his life a living nightmare. Well, what’s a mom to do? Back then I had to pay for everything out of pocket. I just wonder how families with addiction problems are managing today? Any comments?