On Pills and Needles by Rick Van Warner

On Pills and Needles is one family's heartbreaking story of addiction. Addiction is a serious problem in our world today. The author of this book wanted to share his story in order to help other people who are dealing with these same issues. Rick Van Warner spent 8 years trying to helping his son, Tommy, when he became addicted to drugs. He shares in detail the struggles his family went through during this dark time. Tommy's drug addiction almost destroyed the family as they tried to help him over and over again and failed. Rick finally realized that he couldn't do anything to help Tommy until Tommy decided to help himself. He goes on to say that the only person we can control is our self and we can't focus on trying to control other people. Honestly, when I started this book it made me anxious as I am a parent myself and I started wondering what I would do if I were in Rick's situation. I quickly determined that I would do the same thing that he did which is to not give up on my child no matter what. Rick is a true example of a father. Even though he felt like washing his hands of Tommy many times throughout this ordeal because he couldn't find another way to help him, he didn't. He kept on trying and kept on doing what he could for his child. This is what God does for us. He doesn't give up on us. Ever. No matter what. Families that are going through this experience can benefit from reading this book. Although it is a sad story, it is eye-opening to the path of destruction that is formed by drug addiction. I received this book from BakerBooks in exchange for my honest review.