Addicts--Not Families--Are Responsible

I appreciated reading Robin Abcarian’s “Sometimes, Love Is No Match For Addiction” (April 19). She had the courage to voice my inner thoughts. Hugh O’Connor was not a victim of a drug dealer. He was a victim of his own unfortunate inability to face his fears and feel his feelings without self-medicating.

His father, Carroll O’Connor, has reacted by blaming Harry Thomas Perzigian for his son’s death. Carroll O’Connor is not responsible. Harry Perzigian is not responsible. Sadly, Hugh O’Connor did it to himself.

YVONNE SCHLOSSBERG

Woodland Hills

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Robin Abcarian is off the mark when she concludes, “It is a measure of the lies drugs tell that (the addict) . . . would trade mere months of treatment for an eternity of nothing at all.”

Addicts don’t recover in a few months of treatment, but rather struggle with their addiction every day of their lives, a thought that can be far more devastating than an eternity of nothing at all.

I feel that this is an important message. Many people don’t realize or appreciate this fact.

RENEE SPINAK

Northridge