Stories

From bottom to top:One family’s generational struggle with addiction

By Thom Forbes

Public Access Journalism

I am, at the least, a fourth-generation alcoholic. So, too, is my wife Deirdre. Our 22-year-old- daughter, Carrick, is a recovering heroin addict. Most members of our family have been successful professionally — Deirdre’s father was an attorney and judge; my side of the aisle brims with journalists who kept the proverbial pint flask in their desk drawers.

My great grandfather was run over by a trolley car while covering a story in 1904 — still reporting, probably inebriated, but certainly a broken man who was estranged from his family. Many of his progeny shared his taste not only for booze but also for the illusory camaraderie that goes with it in bars and binges.

Most of us got sober, but we’ve taken different routes to get there. I’ve learned along the way that there is a difference between not using a drug and being in recovery, which encompasses the way you lead your life, interact with other people and face your mortality.

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