I think that everyone has been affected by drug addiction at some point in their life. I am not saying that everyone has been an addict, but I think that everyone has known someone who had a problem with substance abuse and it has affected them in some way.

For me, it was my friend Rob. We had been best friends since we were four years old and we were inseparable until high school. He started hanging out with a rough crowd and we drifted as his crowd scared me half to death. I felt lost and lonely and I did not know how to stand by and watch him destroy his life.

A few years later, when I found out that he was in drug rehab, I went to see him. He took one look at me and he started to cry. I didn’t say anything to him, but for the next two hours I just held him. When he was ready to talk, I was there to listen.

It has not been easy for him since then, but he says that seeing me there for him that day changed his life. He is still my best friend and he knows that I will never leave him again.