The boys say they remember the first time they saw their parents shooting up. "I walked in on them in the bathroom. The door wasn't locked," Michael says. "I thought they were ruining their lives." Now, he's been around heroin for so long, he says it's all he knows. He says it wasn't long before he started using too.
Even though Darla's never seen her sons do drugs, she says she's seen the effect it has had on them. "I worry every day ... that they'll overdose," she says. "It tears me up inside."
Michael says there is shared blame for his drug use. "[I blame my parents] somewhat because they've been doing it over the years, and they did it in front of me," he says. "I got mad at them for doing it. I told them to get off of it, and they never listened to me. I felt like everything I said went through one ear and out the other." Still, Michael says he knows he bears some responsibility for his own addiction.
Published 09/29/2008
