VIDEO – WHY? –
Feb. 9, 2023 – “People are desperate,” said Pattie Vargas, a California mother who took out a second mortgage to pay for a spot at a facility for her son Joel, who was addicted to meth as a teen and to heroin as an adult.
They want to save their loved ones, so they just kind of grab any life raft that’s out there.”
Joel relapsed after that stay, cycling in and out of jail. In 2017, he died before his 36th birthday. Vargas now works as a counselor for other grieving parents and has become an advocate for better resources for the next generation.
