Nicolas Sheff

Nicolas Sheff was drunk for the first time at age eleven. In the years that followed, he would smoke pot regularly, do cocaine and ecstasy, and develop addictions to methamphetamines and heroin. Even so, he felt like he would always be able to quit and put his life together whenever he needed to.

It took a violent relapse one summer in California to convince him otherwise. Now in his early 20s, Sheff is a recovering drug addict and alcoholic who has written a memoir, Tweak, about his experience. He has also been published in Newsweek, Nerve, and the San Francisco Chronicle.

In a voice that is raw and honest, he spares no detail in telling the compelling, heartbreaking, and true story of his relapse and the road to recovery. He plunges into the mental and physical depths of drug addiction, painting a picture of a person at odds with his past, with his family, with his substances, and with himself. It’s a harrowing portrait—but not one without hope.

In an extraordinary turn of events his father, David Sheff, simultaneously wrote a New York Times best-selling memoir about their experience, Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey through His Son's Meth Addiction.

Topics

Addiction in the Family? You're Not Alone

Realizing the fact that killing himself would not just affect his own life, that it would affect his father David Sheff, and others that loved him, helped bring Nic Sheff back from his suffering, drug-abused state. What also helped Nic cope with his demons was the knowledge that others had suffered and do suffer just like him. His book Tweak testifies to young people going through similar life struggles that they are not alone. By sharing his harrowing, yet inspirational story, he emphasizes that those that suffer from addiction do not suffer in a vacuum -- somebody out there loves them and are worth living for.

Letting Go: A Journey Through Addiction

Addicts don't stop caring about the people they love, but as addiction takes over a person, all they can think about is getting the drugs into their system, while the people that care for them feel they are unable to help. In his powerful presentation, David Sheff shares the story of his son Nic's addition and the impact it has had on their family. Through his New York Times best-selling book, A Beautiful Boy: a Father’s Journey through His Son’s Addiction, and his son Nic’s bestseller, Tweak: Growing up on Methamphetamines, they tell the story from both sides of addiction.

Struggling with Bi-Polar Disorder

Tweak: A Harrowing, But Hopeful Portrait of Addiction

An Evening of Addiction, Hope, & Redemption with Nicolas & David Sheff