Mumbai: A couple in the Western suburbs is struggling with the helplessness that so many parents of drug addicts grapple with when they cannot protect their children. Their 20-year-old son is back in a rehabilitation center for the second time in three years.
The father claims that the youth in their area are openly using drugs in their neighborhood and that the police are choosing to turn a blind eye towards the problem.
He said he has been forced to rent out a part of his small home to pay his son’s rehabilitation center fee of Rs 8,000 per month, the same amount as his salary. The couple is considering selling their home and relocating elsewhere to keep their son away from the peddlers.
The couple had sent him to a relative’s home in Nallasopara in a bid to end his addiction a few years ago. But their son escaped from there within two weeks and sent his family an audio message to tell them that he was ashamed of his addiction and that he wanted to end his life. They tracked him down and sent him to the first rehabilitation center, where he stayed for nine months. “But he returned home and reconnected with his drug suppliers,” the father told Mumbai Mirror.
“While he did not steal from us, he was arrested for stealing a cellphone. We bailed him out as soon as possible because he was lodged with people who would have had a bad influence on him. He is now struggling with his addiction at another rehabilitation center,” he added.
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