Don't let drugs ruin any more lives

It's a powerful letter, but unfortunately, she didn't include her last name so, under our policy, it wouldn't run in the Bee.

I can understand why she doesn't give her name — given the impact that a loved one's drug use had on her life and that of her children. Meth devastated her family, blowing apart her existence as completely and as thoroughly as a car bomb in a Baghdad market place.

Some say drug use only hurts the user, that some are harmless. Read some of comments below and chances are you'll change your mind. It certainly makes you realize that drugs claim more victims than seen at first glance.

"Some would say that we lived a 'normal life,' " she wrote. "We owned our home on a couple of acres, we had a child that was everything to us (as most parents feel.)"

Too late, she says, did she realize that anyone could be affected by drugs, such a methamphetamine.

"I want to make people aware that anyone can be affected … and to convince people to be intolerant to it. I never thought I would be writing such a letter, as I never thought drug abuse would affect my life the way it has.

"I am not a drug user, but the impact of being married to one has been unbelievable."

It is incredible how quickly a family can be destroyed, she added. Pregnant with her second child, she had to move after a loved one's arrest for drug use and then lost her job.

"My life as I had known it was turned upside down," she wrote. "My son's life as he had known it was turned upside down. My kids and I lost everything but each other. All of this because of drugs."

Slowly, the family is picking up the pieces of their lives and trying to rebuild their shattered trust.

If you know someone who can't or won't say no, take action now — especially if that person is a teen.

There are a number of Web site where you can get information — www.TheAntiDrug.com, www.freevibe.com and www.helpyourcommunity.org to name just a few. Get help, offer help. Just don't make the mistake of thinking it can't or won't happen to you.

"If there is one life lesson I can teach my children, (and anyone who reads this), it would be this one: Nobody is immune to the effects of drugs. You do not have to be a user to be affected. You don't have to be a user to have your whole existence shattered.

"All it takes is a loved one that can't or won't just say no."

—Caroline Lobsinger is the managing editor of the Daily Bee.