After this newspaper reported a meth lab operator's sentencing last spring, one Facebook commenter wrote “Oh, an entrepreneur. Does he have a motor home for sale?”

Another was more direct: “More Butler druggies time to take out the trash!” A third wondered publicly if he would still have done the crime if “his parents would have beaten their kid's ass more.”

Tracy Hack, the man's mother, also commented.

“This is my son,” Hack wrote, “who is loved.”

Though their stories varied, every addict interviewed for this series of articles described the same phenomenon when asked what Butler County could do differently to help its addicts. There is a stigma against addicts, they said, that keeps people from seeking help and even hinders people who are beating their addiction.

That stigma can stop job offers, tank relationships and shame addicts away from seeking medical help.

Rebecca, a 46-year-old woman who picked up pills and booze after seeing her dad do the same, is thriving in Butler today.

Rebecca recounted a list of cruel names people have called her over the years. Rebuilding her self-esteem was a critical part of her recovery.

“In my mind, I was the cause of everything,” Rebecca said. “I hated myself. I hated where my drinking took me. I hated where the drugs took me. I hated where my life took me.”

This is a preview of a much larger article that appeared in Sunday's Butler Eagle along with three other stories discussing the stigma around addiction. Subscribe online or in print to read the full article and have access to the full “Surviving the Family Tree” series.