Today a dear friend lost someone they love to a prescription drug overdose. Such a sad thing. As I shared the news with Billy, he looked confused.
“What’s Oxycodone?” he questioned.
“It’s an addictive prescription drug. A pain medicine.”
“I don’t understand,” he said. “That kills you?”
I don’t understand.
WHAT? How did I miss this?
I’ve talked to my kids about pot, booze, meth and coke. We’ve covered smoking, chewing (still working on that one), and drinking to excess. We had a detailed discussion about ‘huffing’ two years ago when a friend’s teenager passed from experimenting. I remember telling my kids about it and getting the same response.
“What’s huffing?” they’d asked.
I was horrified…and yet relieved…that they didn’t know what it was. Thrilled that they’d not tried it…disappointed in myself that I’d not thought to warn them before they risked their lives experimenting.
And so I explained Oxy to Billy. I told him about how easy it is to just take one. And then maybe one day you think you’ll have two today because one just isn’t cutting it anymore.
“Why don’t people realize they are doing something harmful,” he asked. “Why don’t they just stop?”
And I remembered another time when a smaller version of this boy asked a similar question…why didn’t they just stop? Why didn’t my parents just be parents?
Addiction.
I hope he understands …and yet…
I also hope he never understands.
