By Julie Schaffer

Published by The Center for Justice on March 12, 2013

“Mike Griggs understood addiction long before he first smoked cocaine.  As a child, he witnessed the power that heroine had over his mother.  Her body’s need for another fix wiped out all rational decision-making and motherly instincts – she sold her body for drugs and sent 17-year-old Mike and his younger brother to live with a father they didn’t know.

I wanted to meet with Mike because I sought to understand how a person could drastically alter the course of his life with the deck stacked so heavily against him.  I wanted to know what made a difference, and what wasn’t there that could have made a difference.”

Read More: Reversing the Spiral