My son is now 6 hours away at his 5th treatment centre.
For the past few weeks he has had a really rough time. I hope it's his rock bottom. Some drug dealers he ripped off caught up with him and beat him up. They found out where he was staying and said they would be back.
That was the only place left for him to stay. He has burned all his bridges in that department. So, he called and asked to stay with me. I said no. I also called both grandmas and his Dad and told them to say no to him if he called. He was so mad at me as he found out I had done that. I figured if he had "0" options he would be forced to look at himself and his choices.

He spent one night in my backyard, one night in his Dad's car, one night at a shelter. I met him downtown across the street from the shelter. He called me and begged for me to see him. This place is so horrible. People do drugs right out in the open, stick needles in their arms. I sat with my son, it was a nice sunny day. I said, look at all those people over there. Most of them were drunk, some stoned all laying about on sleeping bags in the parking lot. I said to my son "I don't see their mothers coming to their aid" He heard me loud and clear.

I went with him to the Salvation Army down the street as he begged me to help him. He did not want to spend another night at that horrible shelter. They have cots close together and you really take your life in your hands. There is little supervision and some people sneak in weapons. He was scared and I knew it. I also knew that it was necessary for him to be scared and extremely uncomfortable. The Salvation Army shelter does not allow drugs. You have to be clean to stay there. They have paid beds so I told my son I would pay for one night but that's it. He would have to get up at 5am, line up and try to get a free bed the next night. He wanted me to pay for a week. I wanted him to do something about his situation. They give out 10 nights per month for a free bed but they are really hard to come by. I went home and prayed. He got up at 5am and got the 10 nights. A miracle. I had talked to the guy at the front desk when I paid, I hoped that helped. I think my son getting up at 5am helped too which was another good sign. Last year I had offered to pay for him to stay at a very nice hostel for a month after a few times of getting evicted from the room he was staying at. He said "I don't stay at hostels" He has sure changed his tune.

Later I called the treatment centre to see if he was really on the waiting list. They said they finally got all the paper work and there would be a bed for him in two days.( I had helped him get the paperwork started and took him to get the necessary medical tests done weeks before)

So, yesterday I put him on the bus. I said, when you get there and you want to leave (which he always does) just think about the shelter and all those people out front as that will be your new home if you decide to drop out of the program this time.

I hope he makes it but it's up to him, as always. Over the years I have slowly done less and less for him to the point of shutting the door on my house completely.

He knows now if he comes back he will get beat up, and will be on the street. I hope that is enough to help him to stay.
I know logically for me it would be, but the drug addict doesn't think logically that's the problem.
He had to be clean for 72 hours before he could go to the centre and he managed to do that on his own so that was a good sign.
I'll keep you updated.
Kate