Be his friend.

If you think of him as a younger brother, I assume you're older than him. Can you hang out with him and show him that he doesn't need junk like that in his life to be happy? It's not like you need to TELL him what he should do. Heck, he's probably tired of hearing about it. How about spending time with the guy, not mentioning drugs or gambling for a whole afternoon, and showing him a better way?

Lead by example when possible.

Good luck by the way.

 

My roommate in college OD'ed on drugs. I was the first to find him dead in his room, stiff as a rock. I had known him since high school and all the CPR and first aid training I've been through could not have saved him. You can't really save someone that has no pulse and is as cold as the Gatorade in the fridge.

Rewind a little further back - when I initially found evidence of his addiction I confronted him and took his drugs away. Boy was he mad. He was cursing and throwing things at me but I wouldn't budge. Later he passed out infront of the stove, almost cooking his head. He also tore up his face with a razor while shaving. I said "That's the bottom line, this madness ends here". I called up his parents and had them take him out of school. He somehow convinced them to let him back a month later (something about how he'd be a failure in life if he didn't finish school) and 2 weeks later I'm calling the cops to collect his body.

The hardest phone call in my life was calling his parents. I can't believe after all that he killed himself. I did everything short of kicking his ass and that's the only thing I regret. If reasoning and being a good friend wasn't good enough, I was willing to be the monster. To this day I wish I instilled enough fear in him to change him. If I was guaranteed that beating him to a bloody pulp would save his life I wouldn't think twice about ending up in jail for assault and battery. That thought still haunts me today.

I for one am jaded and unforgiving. Everyday I was the bickering fool and the nosy roommate who you hated to the core. **** you Trey. I was your best friend and you turned your back on me. I never gave up, I just wasn't strong enough to do more. My advice to you is either pull out now before you're hurt or go all the way and try your best to save him from himself. Whatever the result, you tried and no one can say you didn't care.

I hope you are more successful than I was.















RIP old friend...

 

TBH if it were my son I'd lock him in a room for a year or as long as it took and feed him and educate him but dry him out cold turkey a la Basketball diaries. I would document it all but if caught chances are I'd still go to jail but if it saved my son's life that'd be a small price to pay.

Maybe not really your answer but some stuff on the news prompted me to think about how I'd react given that situation and that's the best I could come up with.

GL

 

x 10!!!!

i had a close friend, she was a "sister" to me and i've known her all my life, that was badly addicted to heroin and cocaine, i felt horrible seeing her like that but there was nothing at all i could do.

it did finally take her hitting rock bottom and almost dying on a sidewalk in baltimore that she finally said i need help and can't do this on my own. good luck and sorry you have to see this unfold, but there is definitely nothing you can do. you just have to hope that his "rock bottom" is not killing himself

 

In regards to the "wait until he hits rock bottom replies"

Remember, sometimes rock bottom, is under 6 feet of rock.

 

he is a lost soul.....forget him and move on.





peace

 

obviously you don't know how strong addiction really is

 

Show the kid alternatives. Rehab, jail, those do nothing to address the situation. The kid needs to be aware of what his life could be, not people telling him he already screwed it up. He needs to have friends that aren't into drugs in order to lose the habits.

He's young, there is no reason in the world this has to be anything other than a blip in his life.

 

some things dont run strong

 

Then it's just too bad. You can't help someone if they don't want it. You can't make them see what they don't want to.