Black people love and support their family members who are addicted to drugs (chronic drug users) in a way that is very unique.  We do not celebrate or encourage the addiction (We do Kinda celebrate it in the case of weed, but that’s another post for another day), we work to encourage the person. There is less weeping under the rug of these relatives than other cultures.

Many black people are not ashamed to let people know they have a crackhead uncle or a cousin who smokes weed all the time.  Some of the comfort is due to the knowing looks you get from other Black people who have similar stories in their families as well.  Our comedians have made the subject of relatives with addictions run of the mill fodder (See Smokey from Friday and Tyrone Biggums).  It’s the type of Black humor that harbors some pain with it.

We will give them chance after chance to get their lives together.  We will look past the stories about how their paycheck was stolen, once again.  Our grandmothers will take in their children when the addiction overwhelms them or puts them in jail.  We do all of this out of love.  Even if we know in our hearts that our brothers and sisters are not going to kick their habits…we love them anyway.  It is our hope that love, support, advice, and everything else we offer from the heart will help them to break free from their addiction.

Unfortunately, Black folks sometimes have to love their family members enough to let them go.  Sometimes love takes the form of cutting a relative off from financial support and general contact.  Tough love is still love.