Colten Dalton

Drug addiction is a serious issue wihtin the United States and Ohio currently. We are experiencing our own epidemic in Ohio with opiods and heroin. As a soicety we often see how drugs impact addicts themselves, but cease to acknowledge how that same addiction can impact the lives of loved ones, specifically children. 25% of children grow up in a household where substance abuse is present. These children are twice as likely to develop addictive personalities, have poor performance in the educational system, have emotional and behavioral problems, etc. We are not our parents and can change our lives and shape our future, but these parental expereinces affect us nonetheless. Children of addicts are not hopeless and can grow from the tramatic choices their parents have made by creating their own destiny in this life and grow from each interaction or expereince they encounter. We all have the choice to change. No one is their parent, no matter the circumstances. Colten's main idea is to focus on how we choose our own paths in lives and dictate our future. The idea is to focus on the statistics of how drug addiction can impact children of addicts, but how ultimately we have the choice as individuals to become more than a statistic.