I have never struggled with addiction, but I saw my brother struggle with it.

Addiction does not just affect the addict but it affects everyone around them.

When I was a junior in high school, my brother started to struggle with addiction. His main addiction was Xanax, and he liked other drugs as well. I saw it transform him. The guy that I used to know as my brother was no longer there. He was never home and when he was he was always messed up. I saw him go from a kind and caring brother to someone who I didn't even know.

My family didn't know what to do with him. Punishments did not work. Talking to him did not work. He would always say he would quit and then he would go back and keep doing the same things. My brother was in so many dangerous situations. He was hanging out with the wrong crowd and just traveling down the wrong road.

It nearly destroyed my family. No one understands what it's like living with an addict. They think they understand, but they don't. For a while, I didn't even feel safe at my own house.

The journey of my brother starting to get clean started when my parents put him in the hospital. There was no other choice anymore. We were all scared he was going to end up killing himself with drugs. Unfortunately, the hospital would not send him to a rehab facility because since he spent three days in the hospital, he was three days clean. So he didn't meet the requirements of the rehab facilities anymore.

For awhile he was clean but, he ended up falling off the wagon. This hurt my family so bad. At this point, I was fed up with his bullshit. I told my brother that he was worthless. I told him that I was so tired of him putting me through all of this.

The last straw was when my brother went to jail. He spent the night in there and that changed him forever. He finally realized that the life he was living wasn't the right life for him. He then started to get clean. He went to outpatient rehab and got clean.

By no means is he perfect now, but he is the brother I used to know. He's the guy who I knew growing up. Once an addict always an addict. He will always be an addict. Every day is a challenge for him not to go back to the life he used to live.

I'm so thankful that he has begun to get his life together. When he was on drugs, I used to fear and worry that I would get a call saying he had died from an overdose. I really don't know what I would've done if I lost my brother to drugs.

Addiction doesn't just affect the addict. It affects family, friends, and anyone who is around the addict.