Michael Douglas and the Addiction of a Child

Like father, like son?

Michael Douglas’ 31 year old son Cameron was sentenced to five years behind bars this week for heroin possession and intent to deal methamphetamines and cocaine in New York.

After his son’s sentencing, the world-famous actor commented on both his son’s incarceration and his addiction, saying on the Today Show “”I think the court recognized his drug addiction as well as the crime that he committed. It’s an adequate amount of time…to spend in jail, and the best part of it is he will be able to start his life afresh.”

Cameron has been an addict since age 13, and after failed attempts at recovery, remains slave to this disease. Cameron’s addiction is not the first among those in his family, as E! Online reports, “I was in rehab 20 years ago…” Michael Douglas explained, saying part of Cameron’s addiction lies in a genetic predisposition, “I lost a brother with an overdose four years ago. I have another brother who has been on the program for years. My ex-wife’s family has alcoholism running in it.” Genetic or not, decades’ long addictions aren’t lost causes, and though it often acts as a catalyst, jail is not the only option for lasting recovery.

In Cameron’s case, it appears the whole family would benefit from addiction education regarding how to support recovery while refusing to enable the addiction. Five years in jail should certainly help in the process by taking him out of the situation, but upon release, serious thought to initiating formal recovery in a lasting way could possibly lead to not only sobriety, but also improved family relations.

Aftercare programs like RAP offer families and people like Cameron the structure necessary to truly commit to sobriety. With this help, everyone involved learns to adequately react to and deal with the problems addiction brings and, in this case, has brought for nearly two decades. For people who have not dealt with accountability for actions done in the name of addiction, aftercare offers a continuing call to realization – with programs like this, addicts understand the whole spectrum of the effects of their disease on the wider community and how to overcome.

Having a child addicted to anything is never easy; having a child addicted in the public spotlight and feeling partially at fault can overwhelm. Recovery for the whole family is necessary to truly heal this pain and reunite what, from the outside, appears to be a fractured family.

Tags: addiction recovery, cocaine, drug addiction, heroin addiction, methamphetamine, teen addiction