You were fortunate. My mother never dragged me anywhere, even when I was sick - just tossed me an aspirin from across the room when I was hallucinating from a fever.

We tried church, but we got kicked out because everyone thought mom was "evil." I tried another church on my own, but got pushed out because I was too vocal about their hatred for black people and non-Christians. I also wasn't allowed to talk of my problems at home because it was considered a "personal family problem." I'm glad now I didn't because they might have taken me away from my father and sister and placed me in foster care.

Fire and brimstone talk wouldn't have helped either. I got enough of that at home (got caught playing with matches once and mom made me hold my finger in the fire til SHE said it was okay to take it out).

What kept me out of the "meth labs" back then was watching my friends die from heroin overdoses, slowly kill themselves with cocaine, or become permanently insane after taking too much LSD - or mom trying to kill herself with alcohol and sleeping pills.

What kept me out of the meth labs was having a caring teacher actually teach me and help me get a job where I could afford to move out of my abusive setting. Later, it was a caring employer who showed me how to behave in this crazy world - and care about crazy people.