Editor, Times-Union: Hi, my name is Mona Lisa Niles. My son, Brad Lee Niles Jr., wrote an article on his addictions with meth and his life.
I have stood by my son. I have taken him to facilities to get help. But they wouldn’t accept my son, for they don’t know how to deal with this addiction they say. But I think it’s the money thing.
I printed out flyers 10 years ago about meth and what it was going to do to our society. But no one heard the cries for help. I love my son and want so badly for the help he needs. He needs to learn how to deal with society and pain and anger, because meth goes after the weak. She is right around the corner waiting for the next victim. It will take you in and completely destroy your life. Then they have all this in black and white and that’s how an addict is judged, not by the person they used to be, but by the person they have become.
And this addiction comes from the devil himself. He has found a way to take our loved ones away and use them up until there is nothing left. If we don’t help the ones that ask for help, you are letting him win. And don’t ever say “not my kid,” because I used to say that. It happens, and it’s going to keep happening until it is your kid.
I feel for any family that this drug has attacked, because it will destroy you if not kill you. My son has three beautiful kids and a family that loves him very much, that wants him back.
But they will just send him to prison, like they do all the addicts. But I thought God made the courts to help protect us from evil, not to just lock them up and throw away the key. My son has done some bad things, but if he would not have been on this drug, those crimes would not have happened. Because the person I know is kind and gentle and loves his kids and family and would take his shirt off his back for you. Then meth comes and this man he becomes is not my son. I can’t believe how it just changes you overnight.
So, please, hear my son’s cry for help. He really needs someone that has been there. I can preach all day but until you have been where these addicts are, you can’t because this drug is stronger than a mother’s love. But I’m still there, meth, and I will not give up until you are completely removed from my son and the streets.
Do something, people, stop this drug before it takes someone you love. And it will if it is given the chance.
Thank you to the ones that have wrote to him, and are in support of his treatment. I just pray that someone really hears his cry because it took a lot to put it out there in black and white.
