Daily Times

Beautiful Boy is splendid, agonising, enchanting and a heart-rending story. It is going to prevent the onset of substance use or limit the development of problems associated with using psycho active’s substances, which was written by David Sheff. David is an American author and journalist. He was awarded the 2013 College of Problems on Drug Dependence (CPDD) Media Award, and 2017 American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) Media Award.

He is included in the World’s Most Influential People and well known for the best non-fiction book Beautiful Boy: A Fathers journey through His Son’s Addiction. Sheff’s this piece of work is based on his article “My Addicted Son,” which was first published in the New York Times Magazine. The article won an award from the American Psychological Association for “Outstanding Contribution to Advancing the Understanding of Addictions”. The book also won the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Award. Sheff and his son’s first concerted work HIGH: Everything You Want to Know About Drugs, Alcohol and Addiction, was published in 2019 which provides the information to the youth and middle school readers regarding harmful effects that drugs and alcohol can do.

The title of the book portrays the story of David’s eldest son Nicolas Sheff, who became addicted to methamphetamine as a teenager due to which the Sheff family suffered. At first it scared David to write his family’s story but the encouragement and acknowledgment made him work more on his project. In this book he strive to depict efforts for his addicted son, elucidating circumstances faced by family, what he felt and done everything to save his son that every addict’s parent can do, which made David’s family to love each other more and made them strong. Nietzsche is often quoted for having said, “That which does not kill us makes us stronger.”

What happened to his beautiful boy, Nic Sheff who was a perfect athlete, brilliant student, funny joyous and charming child, always love by his two siblings Jasper Sheff and Daisy Sheff, his mother Vicky and step-mother Karen Sheff, became weak, addicted and used to live on streets. After the separation of David and his first wife Vicky David got married with Karen, and Nic was send for summer vacations. Nic was in sixth standard when he first tried the drugs starting from cocaine. He has been doing every drug that he could. But the most harrowing reality is that Nic became addicted to methamphetamine and used drugs on and off for more than a decade. Methamphetamine is a highly addictive stimulant which gives the user feeling of instant Euphoria. It is illegally made in the labs of United States (U.S.) The most common take of methamphetamine is mostly heated and then smoked in a glass pipe or injected, , effects that can last for up to 12 hours. Smoking it speeds the delivery of the substance into the bloodstream, increasing the amount of dopamine in the brain and the user has to double it, triple it just to feel something. It’s symptoms include odd behaviour, Feeling of bugs crawling on the skin, breathing problems associated with smoke inhalation. Being a researcher David has researched upon the usage, causes and symptoms of meth.

David ask him why he is been doing all drugs, and Nic said,” I don’t know.” David take his son to some anti-drug organization for 28 day recovery treatment. First Nic was not ready to go but for his father he realize what he is been doing is wrong, he thank his father for his concern and advice. He started reading, writing and find himself as happy as he was before. Few days later, David received a call that Nic has left. David look for him and find him in the street corner lying sick in poor condition. Few days later David fly with Nic to the University of California, Berkeley, the same school he was graduated from but his son Nic dropped out of during his freshman year. Nic has completed his graduation in 5 years and remains sober. He enjoys the real essence of life. He has got everything in life, also passed his graduation and gets the job. Soon he realize that there is something missing in his life. He met one of his High school-mate and once again injected himself with methamphetamine. He has ruined his 485 days of sober.

David in struggle with his son has learned that Nic is in denial and refuse to accept that he is addicted to something bad. David realizes that his preoccupation cannot help his son but harm him. So he leaves him on his own knowing the fact that obsessive worry and stress took a tremendous toll. Nic ask his father to let him come home and help him to stop but David refuse that he cannot help him anymore. Harrowingly Nic injected himself again and found in the toilet of the café where he used to spend quality time with David. In the hospital Vicki tell David that Nic has survived with all the drugs in his body and David take him home and he remained sober for 8 years. Over usage of Drugs became the reasons of millions of deaths in the world. David Sheff has adorn fully strive to elucidate in Beautiful Boy the thoughts, feelings and hardships faced by addict’s and their families and how to overcome it. Reading this book feel like living with father who refuse to give up on his son. It beautifully depicts fatherly love, and struggle to get his son back in life. Magnificent for addict’s parent.

I would recommend this book to all those people who are interested in teen addiction issue and wants to help them out or people who themselves facing this issue. This book is very helpful in quitting methamphetamine consumption.

The writer is a poetess and a student of Bachelors at Air University. She can be reached at aqsa-shahzadi@outlook.com