By John OtisOriginal Source: nytimes.com

On a bed drenched in sweat, Allan Wilson emerged from a stupor that began decades before. He saw his life through newly sober eyes. It was a horror show.

“I had nothing,” Mr. Wilson, 61, recalled recently at his home in Yonkers. “All I got to show is thirtysomething years of marriage down the tubes, children that are ashamed of me and a majority of my life spent in prison.”

That moment occurred at an inpatient drug detox program in 2002, when Mr. Wilson was 46. He remembers first getting high at age 9, and addiction that started with marijuana and grew to include alcohol and other drugs.

Mr. Wilson is the youngest of 16 siblings and the last surviving member of his family. His parents were...click here to continue reading