This is part two of a two-part series detailing letters written by local fifth grade students on how drug abuse has affected their lives. Click here for part one.
It is not a secret that drug abuse in the Grayson County community has reached epidemic proportions.
With the proliferation of methamphetamine and opioids, including heroin, hydrocodone and fentanyl (a powerful synthetic opioid), drug abuse impacts hundreds, perhaps thousands of families in Grayson County.
The often unseen victims of the rampant drug, and in some cases, alcohol abuse plaguing our county are the children of the substance abusers. This article is intended to shed light on the overly negative impact drug abuse has on the most innocent of our society.
Over the last quarter-century, Grayson County Sheriff Norman Chaffins has taught a drug prevention program to fifth graders in Grayson County.
“I am always trying to make a positive impact on our youth, but I often wonder if my efforts are even making a difference,” Chaffins said. “Are the kids really listening? Do they really understand how drugs and violence go hand in hand?”
As part of Chaffins’ drug prevention program, he asks the fifth graders to write an essay describing how drug abuse has affected their young lives.
And in one of the more powerful displays of the written word providing an eye-opening, heartbreaking impact on the reader, several of Chaffins’ students wrote essays detailing the intense pain and insecurity caused by parents who choose using drugs over raising their children.
These are there stories:
Willow’s Life
Once there was a family who’s mom and dad did drugs. Her dad left the house one day and when he came home the cops were standing at the door waiting for him. The cops took him inside the house. Marie, the mom, was asleep with Heather, the baby. The cops came in and woke her up and sat the dad and mom on the sofa and that’s when it all started.
Heather, their first child, was only one at the time. The cops told them they would have to turn her over to social services. They said, “Why, is she our child.” The cops said, “She is going to a foster home, you all have been doing drugs with her in the home.” Then they took Heather away. Two years later, Willow was born. The parents fought constantly, the dad was still doing drugs. When Willow was seven, things got worse. Her parents started to get into like fist fights. So Willow went to her neighbors. This happened for two weeks.
This happened constantly. Willow was always going to her neighbor to stay from six in the morning to six at night. She would cry in her pillow and stay in her room because she didn’t want to get hurt by her dad. When the dad was on drugs he would get mad over nothing. Marie, the mom was not ok. She had a broken back because when Jack was on meth he went crazy and caused her to break her back. One day, Willow decided to call the cops because she was tired of her mom getting hurt and then Jack ran away. But when the cops got there it was just Willow and Marie. The cops arrested her mom. So Willow went to her Papaw and Nanny’s that live up the hill.
Willow went to school and didn’t tell anyone and did not talk to anyone. The next week her mom got out of jail and Willow was so happy. But the fighting went on and they decided to move to an apartment without Jack knowing. However, somehow he found out and then he destroyed the place where they were living because he was mad. So the apartment people kicked them out. Willow went back to her Nanny’s and the cops were looking for Willow’s mom. Her mom finally got caught by the cops and is still in jail. She has been through three lawyers and is going back to court soon.
My dad is now on the most wanted list. I am Willow. My mom is Marie and Heather is my sister. My dad is Jack. This is my story on how drugs have affected my life. I have been through a lot but I never give up and I never will. I miss the love and happiness my family used to share. But drugs stole it away from me.
5th grade Clarkson Elementary School student
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Once upon a time, there was a family that was happy and healthy until the day the Father took a turn down a bad road. He became addicted to marijuana and methamphetamine. The happy, healthy family appeared to be falling apart.
The father never seemed to be around and he began spending more and more time with friends instead of the family. At night, the girl would lay in bed wondering where her father was and if he would be home in time to tuck her in. Many nights, the girl cried because he never made it before she slipped off to sleep. He never seemed to know where he was and never wanted to play with us. He wasn’t the same person as before. All hope was lost the day she found out he went to jail. She knew he would not be home for a very long time.
The girl and her sisters went to live with their grandparents. Because of his actions, the court said they could no longer be around him. Even that could not convince him to stop making horrible decisions and he continued being a drug addict. The girls lost all trust in him because he promised he would stop but he continued using. Deep down the girls always hoped that he would stop and become the father they always needed him to be.
Finally, he went to rehab and got off drugs. But he did not come back to the family. He went and found a new family. They too seemed to be happy until the same thing happened again. The girls finally got to see him again but unfortunately he took too many sleeping pills and overdosed on the side of the road. When the police found him, he didn’t know where he was or who he was around and he started to fight with the police. Once again, he went back to jail. After being released, he tried to see the girls again but managed to be arrested before he had a chance to. He doesn’t have any idea just how much he has hurt these girls. Though he loves the girls, it seems that the drugs have too much of a hold on him.
The girls’ grandparents continued to care for them and decided to legally adopt them. They protect them and provide a good home life for the girls to grow up in. Although they hope and pray that someday the father will turn his life around, these girls have learned the importance in family and how decisions not only affect themselves, but all those who love them. In case you haven’t figured it out, these girls are me and my sisters. The only good thing about this situation is that my sisters and I vow to never go down the same road as our father.
5th grade Clarkson Elementary School student.
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com
