MY SON'S ADDICTION...A MOTHER'S STORY
- Louise Chabros
- Dec 19, 2025
- 4 min read
My name is Louise,
and this is the story of my son Chris,
who is going on 33,
and trying to be a recovering addict.
Chris’s delves into addiction I guess probably began in junior high.
He’d been being bullied by some ethnic groups.
I got pretty outraged, things at that time were very tense in the neighbourhood with different ethnicities, and “groups” as the police at that time were referring to them. They didn’t want to class them as gangs, although parents had no problem classing them as gangs.
So after my son had told me about the threats that were being made on him, I took him to see the police, and the officer just basically told my son to let them get their beats on him, and they would move on.
Rather than doing that, Chris found a way to become friends with them, and then very soon after that, he was part of them, and his addiction grew from there.
I’ve heard it said that addiction is like playing Russian roulette;
No one knows when they take that first drink or do that first drug, if they have the addiction gene or not.
They do what many people do socially in society with no repercussion. Nothing happens to them. But someone with an addictive gene does the same thing, and they are addicted.
That’s what happened to my son.
He played Russian roulette with drugs and addiction became that result.
I don’t believe any addict has ever taken a drug wanting to become an addict.
His dad and I just didn’t know. I guess we were in denial for an awful lot the first several years, which caused a lot of enabling by giving him money. He was working for his dad and ... “I need 50 bucks before payday ... you’ve earned it, OK.”
And then when we found out that he had become an addict, the enabling stopped. The promises of ‘I’m done doing drugs,’ and knowing that, believing that when he was saying it. He was being very sincere and very true, and yet that craving for the drug would take over and the strength would be gone when the craving became strong.
Chris has been homeless; not homeless on the streets in a sleeping bag, but homeless bouncing from couch to couch.
People do that for years.
We, society doesn’t look at them as homeless because we don’t see them.
I believe that a lot of people also believe that people make the choice to be an addict, or homeless.
See a homeless person and well ... go get a job... and a lot of people who are homeless are working.
A lot of addicts are working.
Chris has worked for most of the years, since he left school at 16.
For many years he was plumbing for his dad’s company and right now he’s just started with another company.
Never gotten his schooling for plumbing though, that’s always been a challenge. The need for money to fulfill the .. living...whatever his living is at that time, be it addiction or whether he’s been not doing drugs, and just trying to survive.
As family of people with addiction and mental illness, a lot of our friends don’t want us talking about it. It’s taboo, or our family member “brought this on themselves” and they’re no good, and it makes it hard as a family member.
Who do you talk to without judgement?
Who do you go to for advice?
Our federal government believes in building more jails to house the addicted, mentally ill and homeless.
They don’t see mental illness and addiction as diseases.
When Chris was younger and we first learned of his addiction, had we had lots and lots of money, he would have been able to go into treatment for 30 or 60 days. But at the end of the money or at the end of the term, whether the addition was treated or not, he would have been done.
We need to focus on rehabilitation, education for prevention so that people have an understanding of ‘if I make this choice to do this drug, I could be embarking on a journey I never want to go on.’
What makes the difference with therapeutic farms is even if it takes years?
They’re there.
The impact of Chris’s addiction is, I think for me ... is the feeling of helplessness.
I see his potential, I see his compassion and his heart. I see all the good in him, and know that there’s nothing I can do ... there’s nothing that I can do.
It’s my hope that our government will quit building more jails, and put the money into places that truly treat the problem.
This isn’t just a Victoria problem. It’s not an island problem, it’s a worldwide problem.
We as society need to start standing up and telling our governments they need to help take care of our people.
It’s my hope for my son that he will battle his addiction successfully and be able to ... down the road ... be reunited with his four year old son, who he now can’t see.
Since he was young and was sneaking out his bedroom window at night after we’d all gone to bed, I surround him in white light and pray for him to be safe.
BE AFFECTED.
The homeless are your neighbours
By Louise Chabros . First Published in Island Gals Magazine . 2012 . Volume 2 . Issue 2 .
