Surviving Alex

In 2015, Patricia Roos's twenty-five-year-old son Alex died of a heroin overdose. Turning her grief into action, Roos, a professor of sociology at Rutgers University, began to research the social factors and institutional failures that contributed to his death. Surviving Alex tells her moving story-and outlines the possibilities of a more compassionate and effective approach to addiction treatment. Weaving together a personal narrative and a sociological perspective, Surviving Alex movingly describes how even children from "e;good families"e; fall prey to addiction, and recounts the hellish toll it takes on families. Drawing from interviews with Alex's friends, family members, therapists, teachers, and police officers-as well as files from his stays in hospitals, rehab facilities, and jails-Roos paints a compelling portrait of a young man whose life veered between happiness, anxiety, success, and despair. And as she explores how a punitive system failed her son, she calls for a community of action that would improve care for substance users and reduce addiction, realigning public health policy to address the overdose crisis.