A young heroin addict, who'd been clean for some five months, violates his curfew by staying out overnight.
When he returns the next morning he says he was on the phone with his girlfriend the previous night and that she "sounded funny.." He said he panicked and went to her apartment to see "if she was all right." He wanted to make sure she wasn't sick.
Turns out she sounded funny because she was using heroin. He said he took her drugs and started to flush them. But once he had them in his hand he was unable to do so. Instead, he used them himself.
His actions violated what is common knowledge in the 12 program: we never go on 12 step calls alone. For exactly the same reasons this man shouldn't have gone by himself. If he truly went to help her, then he exposed himself to danger.
And even though he was dirty, we offered him the opportunity to go to detox and start over. Instead, he elected to go back to his girlfriend's apartment.
And we know the rest of the story.
.Click here to email John
