My Family’s Hell,
My name is Capt. Dale Freeman. I am the father of a 26 year old daughter, Danielle, who developed a serious addiction to the drug Oxycontin. It was prescribed for a coccyx fracture (broken tail bone) when she was 18 years old. She made no progress in recovering from her injury for about a year. I took her to see another physician for a second opinion. He examined her for about five minutes and said he could si mply remove it surgically. When I informed him of my daughter’s addiction, he was livid! He said there is a myriad of other medications available that are less addictive and that he would never have administered this drug, especially, to someone as young as her! He wanted to know the name of the doctor who had prescribed the medication for my daughter.
Oxycontin was originally created to offer pain relief for terminally ill patients! It has since been freely prescribed, thus creating a new generation of drug addicts!. We need new laws to restrict application of this dangerous drug. Doctors, who financially benefit from, in essence being drug dealers themselves, should be investigated!
Our lives have been sheer hell since my daughter’s accident. She has been in and out of numerous drug treatment centers and mental hospitals. She has attempted suicide. Her addiction degenerated to using heroin. My wife and I now have custody of our two grandchildren, a boy 5 years old and a girl 18 months old. This creates a substantial monetary increase to us for day care, clothing, food etc… We had to have our daughter arrested for stealing company checks and credit cards from us. The Quincy, MA court system has been wonderful, informative and supportive, I might add. I, however worry about my two sons who are 14 and 11 years old respectively. I am aware of serious drug abuse problems in Quincy. It was reported by our local newspaper, that we are 60% above the state a verage for narcotic overdoses!
I am a member of a chapter of “Families Anonymous”. In sharing with others, in my same predicament, I have learned to deal with the quilt, anger, frustration and the emotional strain placed upon our entire family. We have members from every section of the city and the story is still the same! Drugs, dealers and addicts are everywhere and the pain of watching a loved one spiral into this evil abyss is daunting. I will never give up trying to help my daughter “get well”, but, I now understand that the task is really hers to perform. I cannot make her do anything. It has been well docu mented, the addict, in order to be successful, has to reach “their” low point.
My daughter recently was discharged from being incarcerated at MCI-Framingham. Danielle had been given the choice of attending drug court or spending 2 years behind bars. She opted for drug court and is now in a long term treatment facility, which specializes in dual diagnosis treatment. In speaking with her, she appears to want to get her life back together, ultimately, to have contact with her children again, but, as anyone who has been down this road knows, there are no guarantees!
This isn’t a story of “no hope”, however, even though she has repeatedly relapsed. With every episode, the duration of her sobriety becomes longer and the period of time in which she slips becomes shorter. This is a step in the right direction and perhaps with God’s help she’ll get it right one of these times! Say a prayer for us!
Thank You, Captain Dale C. Freeman