Addiction In David Sheff's Beautiful Boy

How do you know when you’re addicted to something? Is it a choice or is it and effect? No one really chooses to be an addict. Addiction is defined as a compulsive craving to drugs or a certain behavior despite known adverse consequences. In recent years, the concept of addiction has extended to cover many behaviors formerly known as bad habits. In the book Beautiful Boy David Sheff tries every method that he thought was best for his son, Nic, and he nearly destroys his life, his marriage and the lives of his other two children. David’s addiction to Nic was just as serious as Nic’s addiction to drugs; it was strong and intense. David didn’t want to believe that he was addicted to Nic, he tried to justify his actions as an addict would, and instead he believed that he was being a good parent in this situation. David was in fact addicted to Nic and his

Nic first started to do drugs in the seventh grade. He first started off by smoking cigarettes. Sheff states, “When I press him, however, he admits that he had a few puffs with a group of boys who were smoking behind the gymnasium” (47). David then lectures Nic about smoking and then Nic assures him that he will not do it again. A week later David finds marijuana in one of Nic’s sweaters. He then confronts Nic about this discovery and Nic admits that he tried it twice and he was only doing it because “everyone does it” (53). At this point, David doesn’t overreact about this because of the type of friends that Nic is hanging around and he believes that they are influencing him. The next year, Nic is in the ninth grade and he seems to be doing better. Then, one afternoon David receives a call from the freshman dean to discuss Nic’s suspension for buying marijuana on the campus grounds. David thinks that Nic is experimenting and then he starts comparing him to other kids who uses drugs and he comes to the conclusion that Nic isn’t like them, and that this is simply just a