Good lord, your instincts are absolutely right! Protect that young lady at ANY cost! I can't give you the benefit of any experience from my own life (and thank goodness for that), but however you handle it, that girl comes first. All my best Deno, good luck partner!

I got my AA degree in Addiction Studies. I burned out while doing the counseling internships because addicted people are not rational thinkers and I could not imagine a career or lifetime dealing with them.

As for general advice... If a person has a substance abuse problem, you can't help them unless they are ready and wanting to recover themselves. For most of them, this means "hitting bottom". When it is the people you love, it is hard not to help them, but every time you make their life easier while they are using, you are inadvertently enabling their addition. The best thing you can do to help is nothing other than help them find resources for their recovery. Most will react harshly to such a stance and will often say hateful things, but that is the addiction that has taken over their lives doing the talking. Their "real selves" or sober selves has been buried deep and it usually takes more than a year of sobriety for their better selves to reemerge.

One of my brothers had problems with alcohol and drugs, but eventually, he did get sober. I still won't lend him money, because I would never see it again. He was never responsible person even before he had substance abuse issues.

Crystal meth is death. It turns people's brains to mush; parents will pimp out their own kids. Such a waste. The convict sounds like a real loser. Glad you got his number. Your doing right. Stay on top of it. Good luck.

Hang on in there, the old a least have patience on their side, while things often change quickly among the young.

Deno, I won’t try to improve on what others have suggested . . . or may yet suggest.

Sounds like you could have your own reality show version of Mama June Family Crisis. Glad you are watching out for and being protective of your young relative, but it also sounds like your other relatives are POS that are beyond hope. Glad you are a better and stronger person than me, because I would have already given up on the whole lot of them and walked away for good..

Yowza