MERIDIAN, Idaho — At the Meridian Anti-drug Coalition's 14th Annual Recovery Breakfast, a local mother and daughter bravely shared their experience dealing with the devastation of heroin addiction, and the hope they ultimately found in recovery.
"You're in a prison on the inside," said Stacy, recovering addict.
"I believed her unconditionally," said her mother, Terry.
Stacy says she was 26 when she first tried heroin.
"It starts out fun, and pretty soon it turns into fun with some problems, and pretty soon it turns into just problems," said Stacy. "I used the fact that my mother and I, especially, were extremely close, to manipulate money out of her."
Terry says she was unknowingly enabling her daughter's drug use.
"Part of me knew, but part of me didn't want to believe that," said Terry.
After desperation took hold, in 2004, Terry said she helped get her daughter into treatment, and Stacy bravely managed to get clean and sober.
She says she's been that way for 15 years now.
"As much as it may kill you as a parent, I'm telling you as somebody in recovery that enabling will kill," said Stacy.
Now, by sharing their story at today's 14th Annual Recovery Breakfast, themed, "Together We Are Stronger," the duo encourage more Idaho families to seek help and education about substance use disorder.
"We, as family members of alcoholics and addicts, have to hit our bottom too," said Terry.
"You do these things not because you want to but because you have no choice," said Stacy.
As Meridian Mayor Tammy de Weerd pointed out, it’s a topic that too many Idaho families can relate to.
“Anyone who has been touched in some fashion by substance abuse will you raise your hand?" asked Mayor de Weerd. Nearly everyone in the crowded room raised a hand.
But it's an issue Meridian's Anti-drug Coalition remains dedicated to attacking. The Anti-drug Coalition was founded in 2004 by executive order by Mayor de Weerd. This, as she pointed out at the event, was her last Recovery Breakfast as Mayor, since she is not seeking re-election again this November.
