New group offers support to parents of children battling addiction

OCEANSIDE – A new support group, Parents of Addicted Loved-ones, now meets 6 p.m. Tuesday evenings at the Salvation Army, 3935 Lake Boulevard, in Oceanside. The group will not meet Sept. 11.

Years of working as a substance abuse counselor taught Mike Speakman that overcoming addiction isn’t just about treatment for the individual. It takes support from the family as well.

“A good example is diabetes,” Speakman said. “You didn’t cause it, but if your son had it, you might want to learn about it so you could help better.”

Speakman had been offering education for families in single weekend sessio...