Mark James* had the good looks of a boy-band heartthrob. He was a starter on his high-school baseball team. He had a great girlfriend, Jane. Everyone liked Mark.

Then, he got addicted to drugs.

It started with a few bones. Then, he started tripping. His mother never noticed.

She was using, too.

In fact, that's where the Massachusetts teen first learned about drugs—from his mother. She used to do cocaine and heroin and smoke pot.

"My father didn't want me because I was a mistake and my mother was just a quick lay," says Mark. "When I was little, my mom used with her boyfriends. Most of them were guys she met at the bar that night."

Mark always felt his mom did drugs because she was only 16 when she had him. He blamed himself. Even though he hated that she used drugs, he eventually followed her lead.

That happens a lot, says Nancy Stek, assistant director of the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependency.

Kids who grow up with parents who use drugs are four to six times more likely to end up with drug problems, researchers estimate. Kids with alcoholic parents are also more likely to get addicted.

Part of that is because of genes. You can inherit a tendency to become addicted. The other reason is environment.

"They do what they see is normal in the family," explains Stek. "They figure, 'If it's OK for them, it's OK for me, and I guess I don't have to feel all the pain I feel.' They see taking drugs or drinking as a way to cope."

Falling Fast

Mark was 16 when he started hanging out with new friends. One weekend, he was watching a little tube, havin' a few drinks, when one kid asked Mark if he wanted to keep his high going.

Mark, being a risk-taker, let the guy shoot him up with a hit of "meth." He didn't know what he was in for. He stayed up for days, not sleeping.

After just a few weeks of shooting and smoking, Mark's grades slipped so badly that he had to repeat his sophomore year.

Then he got kicked off the school baseball team for smoking cigarettes. That's when Jane knew there was a real problem. For as long as Jane had known Mark, all he wanted was to be an Atlanta Braves starter. Jane knew Mark was falling fast.

So, she tried to reach out to him.

"I just told her it was nothing, family stuff that meant nothing, and had nothing to do with her," remembers Mark. "Finally, after she kept nagging me to tell her what was wrong, I cracked and told her everything."

He told her about his father abandoning him and his mother's drug problem.

Mark begged Jane to stay with him. But after a few months of him still using drugs, she couldn't take it any longer.

"So, she bailed and took my heart with her," Mark says.

But Jane couldn't just stand by and watch drugs kill Mark. She left a message for Mark's mom, explaining why they broke up and how scared she was for him. Mark's mother went home that night to find him tripping on acid.

"I never saw her so scared," Mark remembers. "She had this look of fear and pain in her eyes. When my trip ended, we had a long talk. We drank a lot of coffee and smoked a lot of cigarettes together that night. We talked about Jane and how much pain I was in because I was losing her. We talked about my alcohol and drug problem and about baseball. I swore to my mother I'd stop, and I did, for a while."

But when Mark turned 17, a friend threw a party for him.

Some guys at the party "slipped liquid acid in my soda and my vow to stay clean was over. I started tripping again. I tripped a lot."

Not long after, Mark was arrested for drug possession (marijuana and ecstasy). All he could say was, "I'm so scared. I didn't want this to happen."

Through his tears he managed to say, "I wish I could take it all back and show Jane I'm not as weak as I seem. I wish I never had taken my very first hit.

"For a long time, I blamed my addictions on my parents' dysfunction and my deranged childhood, but it wasn't their fault. I never should have started taking drugs. They're not cool at all. I have a problem, and I'm going to get help.

"I hope it's not too late to make it all better."

Editor's Note: If you're living with parents or relatives with a drug or alcohol problem, you need help. Talk to a trusted adult—a relative, neighbor, parent of a friend, school counselor, or clergy member—who can help find support groups where you'll meet other kids dealing with the same problems. Another good place to turn is Alateen.