Author, father, and career academic James W. Stewart knows the pains of being a parent to a child addicted to drugs. He speaks from nearly two decades of experience struggling to help his son through his addiction, including tracking him down to where he was living on the street, accompanying him during his trial in drug court, and ultimately losing him to addiction. He was moved to write this book in hopes of helping parents like him avoid what he sees as the mistakes he made with his son. This book is intended to remind them to pay close attention to their child and to offer unconditional love even in the hardest of moments, as well as to recognize that this means avoiding acting from a place of codependency. During James's twenty-plus years of parenting, his son brought him into close contact with the world of addicts, drug rehabilitation facilities, and the legal and prison systems of the USA. This was further bolstered by the work of his daughter, a drug and alcohol counselor. This experience led to a profound deepening of his understanding of addiction, its causes, and the problems addicts face. His academic background prepared him well for the research portion of this book, which is his second, after his dissertation, The Role of Traditional Healers in HIV Prevention (University of Washington, 2000). Mr. Stewart lives in Rogersville, Missouri, with his wife of almost fifty years. You can follow his blog, www.bytsnpieces.com
