The questions we ask ourselves are inevitable: Could I have stopped this if I had pushed harder? Is this my fault? For that question, the answer is always no. We don’t cause addiction, and we can’t cure it. But we want to know that we did our very best to help the people we love before it’s too late.

Last week, Jets backup quarterback Erik Ainge recounted his struggles with addiction in a candid ESPN interview. Although he’s not sure about his future in football, he knows that his top priority is to maintain his sobriety, which is exactly where his focus should be.

Michael Jackson’s premature death has shocked the world. His talent was so transcendent, it’s difficult to understand how his last decades could be so marked by severe drug misuse that it has cut short his life. Those who knew him tell of his physical and psychic pain. But most addicts suffer psychic pain — often  more