Drugs and alcohol have been used for medical and recreational purposes throughout history. With advances in technology, it has become increasingly easier to access these substances. It is not only illegal drugs, but also prescription drugs that are being misused and wreaking havoc all over the world. Even with billions of dollars spent to end the war on drugs, the problem persists. People from all walks of life have been affected by drugs or become addicts themselves. A particular group affected by the abuse of these substances are children of drug-addicted parents. According to Cattapan and Grimwade, "drug use observed in one generation affects the lives of the next." Children whose one or both parents use drugs face enormous disadvantages. They suffer physical violence and emotional trauma that will have lifelong consequences and their family unit is torn apart. Social institutions are overloaded with the need for help or relocation of these children. Parents should be able to provide their children with a stable and loving environment in which to grow up. Unfortunately, for addicted parents, this feat seems impossible. Addicts must satisfy their own needs before anything else (Street, Whitlingum, Gibson, Cairns, and Ellis 2011). The high cost of drugs and their bizarre side effects make daily life difficult and unpredictable for the children of these addicts. Estimates show that “…6 million children live with a parent who abuses alcohol or other drugs” (Taylor 2011). Children who live with drug-addicted parents enter a perpetual cycle of physical abuse, neglect, and emotional trauma. Many children are raising themselves and/or their siblings because their parents are either too drugged up to provide for them or are not home to...... middle of paper ..... Unless the child's will is stronger than the desire to use drugs or alcohol, the child will become a veteran of an illegal lifestyle. Children of addicted parents enter a world with a disability; a life of stability is unfamiliar to these innocent children. Drug addicts will do whatever is necessary to get their next fix, even if it means exploiting their child. Even when a child is removed from immediate danger and goes to live with other family members, the emotional scars remain. These children are driven to act and behave aggressively because of the difficulties they have faced. If these children do not receive help in the form of counseling or other means, the cycle of addiction will continue. Our capacity as human beings to love, to help, our connections with each other are reasons enough to care about the lives of these children. It could be someone you know.