Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

As the father of a recovering heroin addict, I will tell anyone who asks me that David Sheff's Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction is probably the best book I've ever read. As a matter of fact, Beautiful Boy helped me come to grips with my own son's addiction and prompted me to work on my own recovery. As a result, I was able to get my own life back. Even better, as I write this review my 23-year-old son is eight months clean and sober--the longest stretch of clean time he's had since he was 16. That being said, it should come as no surprise that Clean: Overcoming Addiction and Ending America's Greatest Tragedy is probably the most anticipated book ever for me. I pre-ordered it from Amazon as soon as I heard about it and have been eagerly awaiting its publication. Luckily, I was able to get an advance copy through Amazon's Vine program. David Sheff's latest offering is to be commended for many reasons. First and foremost, though, is its explanation of how addiction works and its attempt to break the stigma frequently associated with this ancient disease. "Most drug use isn't about drugs; it's about life," Sheff writes in the Preface. "Our prevention and treatment efforts have failed mostly because they've focused on dealing with the drugs themselves, but drug abuse is almost always the result of kids starting to use early, genetics, and other problems--stress, trauma, mental illness, or some combination of these factors. The new paradigm is rooted in recognizing that drugs are a symptom, not a cause, and whatever problems underlie them must be (and can be) addressed. Until they are, our prevention and treatment systems will continue to fail most people." Sheff outlines the six precepts that underpin Clean in the Preface. They are: 1. Most drug use isn't about drugs; it's about life. 2. Addiction is a disease. 3. This disease is preventable. 4. This disease is treatable. 5. As with any other illness, the prevention strategies and treatments most likely to work aren't based on tradition, wishful thinking, or faith, but science. 6. Drug abusers and addicts can do more than get off drugs; they can achieve mental health. Those precepts are the road map for the book, and Sheff does a fabulous job of backing them all up using scientific evidence, case studies, and his own expertise and experience. Regarding the stigma associated with addiction, Sheff states: "This stigma associated with drug use--the belief that bad kids use, good kids don't, and those with full-blown addiction are weak, dissolute, and pathetic--has contributed to the escalation of use and has hampered treatment more than any single other factor." As the father of a recovering addict, I know all too well how that stigma affects addicts--and families of addicts--in a negative way. Kudos to Sheff for attacking it head-on. Another misconception Sheff takes on has to do with relapse: "The main problems with America's addiction-treatment system stem from its roots in the archaic notion that addiction is a choice, not a disease. One common symptom of the disease of addiction is relapse. Kicking an addict out of treatment for relapsing is like kicking a cancer patient out of treatment when a tumor metastasizes." Again, Sheff is telling it like it is and striving to destroy the old myths associated with addiction. Every page of this book has interesting and valuable information on it. Some paragraphs are so full of information that I found myself re-reading them so I could absorb everything Sheff had to say. I will probably re-read the entire book several times. It's that good and that informative. This is not only a book about addiction; it's a book about hope. It lets people know that addiction can be prevented. And even if one does succumb to addiction, that there are ways to treat the disease and for people to get clean and stay clean. Sheff ends the main part of the book with his own take on the twelve steps, entitled "The Clean Paradigm in Twelve Steps." (Example: "12. End the war on drugs and treat addiction for what it is--not a criminal problem, but a health crisis.") He also provides a very informative Appendix--"Just Say Know"--where he describes "the most prevalent drugs and their effects, starting with the most ubiquitous drug of all." (That would be alcohol.) If you have been affected by addiction, you must read this book. If you have kids entering their formative years, you must read this book. If there is a history of addiction in your family, you must read this book. Even if you don't fit any of those categories, I'd still recommend you read Clean to get a remarkable insight into one of the biggest issues facing our country today. For those who are interested, here is how Clean is broken down, section by section: I: AMERICA ON DRUGS 1. This Is Your Brain on Drugs 2. This Is Our Country on Drugs II: WHY WE USE 3. Everybody Does It 4. Helping Kids Grow Up III: WHEN DRUG USE ESCALATES 5. Use Becomes Abuse, and Abuse Becomes Addiction 6. Addicts Aren't Weak, Selfish, or Amoral; They're Ill 7. Don't Deny Addiction, Don't Enable It, and Don't Wait for an Addict to Hit Bottom--He Could Die 8. The Next Hurdle: Getting a Person into Treatment IV: GETTING CLEAN 9. The Treatment Minefield 10. Detox V: STAYING CLEAN 11. Beginning Treatment 12. Primary Treatment 13. Treating Drug Problems with Drugs 14. Where Does AA Fit In? VI: TREATING A CHRONIC ILLNESS 15. Treating Dual Diagnosis 16. Relapse Prevention VII: ENDING ADDICTION 17. The Future of Prevention and Treatment 18. Fighting the Right War Epilogue Appendix: Just Say Know