Not to get all personal, but anyway. I have a family member who used drugs(meth) in the house with her two young sons and very into that lifestyle. One day my nephew called 911, my other nephew had "drowned" in the bathtub. Luckily EMTs revived him. The family member's story was that she had passed out asleep, and I was shocked to learn she got basically nothing while the boyfriend is locked up for life. When EMTs arrived he was standing in broken glass. NOW...did she get these children back? Yes. Should she have? No.
She got clean for a bit, had 2 more children and then went back to using. Her husband left her, she kidnapped her children and took them through multiple states with her pimp...they would stay in the hotel room next door. These are kids 5, 6, and 13. The state still wanted to give her a shot. 2 years later after being incapable of staying clean, they finally terminated. The older one cut her out himself. The foster families were amazing, I am not able to take on the children. All this basically means is, if this didn't get the children taken away, what will? My nephew who called 911 became a heroin addict in his mid teens, but it's pretty understandable given what he witnessed. Good news is he got sober and has a job. I hope he breaks the cycle.
I know some of you are shocked at what you see in these videos, but keep in mind a lot of society is involved in criminal behavior, and that is all they know. Not excusing it, but you have to understand it. If everyone around you is doing drugs it's just a normal thing. Not to mention the easy money aspect. Most people have a hard time going from making 10k a week or more, to a regular job and struggling. In my neighborhood in NYC, 12 year olds would fight over a block to earn about 100-200 for an 8 hour shift selling weed. It is a basically accepted truth that you would be dead or in prison by 25. Money is also power and respect. It helps to have no sense of self worth..when you don't value your own life you can become very dangerous. That was my truth, but I got sober, got up, go out and left everything behind and am in the process of undoing stuff that was beat into me at a young age, which is difficult, and if i was poor I would be unable to get good help. I give the love to my daughter I never had. I honestly don't think mom had much of a chance....do some brief poking around and it is clear everyone is deeply struggling..and it makes me sad for the US in general.