When Love is Not Enough: A Parent's Perspective

Opinion piece based on the personal experience of a mother and addiction rights activist in Vancouver. She describes her son and his heroin addiction and common emotions experienced by family and loved ones. She argues that addiction is a health problem and that zero abstinence programs therefore do not work. She asserts that only Heroin and Cocaine Maintenance programs offer any real solution for long-term drug addicts like her son. She encourages families of drug addicts to get involved in community advocacy and activism to promote harm reduction programs.