The Damage Done

by Victoria Turk

Peggy first drank alcohol and smoked weed as a 14-year-old high school student in 1970s New Jersey -- when the era of sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll was at its apex. Getting high with her friends hardly distinguished her from the world around her. But while times changed, Peggy did not. Now in her 50s, she has been struggling with substance abuse ever since and has become part of a growing generation of middle-aged addicts who find themselves trapped in a vicious cycle of addiction, rehab and relapse. In “The Damage Done,” reporter Victoria Turk -- currently a student at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism -- delivers a powerful, true narrative of a woman who is finally trying to get her life back on track.

29 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 25, 2012