37-year-old Cameron Douglas’, Michael Douglas son, is finally out of prison after he was arrested in 2009 for having methamphetamine in a hotel room with other drug related charges that prolonged his time in prison.
The Award-winning actor and filmmaker, Michael Douglas, is also a father of three children, being the most famous Cameron Douglas for his career as an actor and DJ. However, he had a few problems with the law, regarding drug abuse and possession.
Douglas’s son was arrested twice during 1999 and 2007. The first one for buying drugs and a second time for cocaine possession. Finally, in 2009, after being found in the Hotel Gansevoort with almost a pound of crystal meth, he was placed under house arrest. His trial in 2010 put him five years behind the bars in a minimum security prison in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.
During his time in confinement in 2011, his sentence was extended after an investigator found hidden drugs in Cameron’s cell. He was facing an extension of 20 years and a $250.00 fine, but it was finally reduced to four years after he pleaded guilty for the smuggling of heroin and cocaine.
While his son was serving his time in prison, Michael Douglas was suffering from another ordeal, as he was diagnosed with stage IV tongue cancer. He attributed the illness to the heavy smoking and alcohol abuse during his career. The actor spoke in many instances about how he was dealing with Cameron’s drug abuse, and how he related it to his own problems.
He visited his son in prison on a regular basis. After the experience of this occasions, he publicly spoke against the jail system, and how he was upset with the treatment given to non-violent drug abusers. In the same way, Cameron also criticized the criminal system.
“This outdated system pays little, if any, concern to the disease of addiction, and instead punishes it more harshly than many violent crimes. I’m not saying that I didn’t deserve to be punished, or that I’m worthy of special treatment. I made mistakes, and I’ll gladly and openly admit my faults. However, I seem to be trapped in a vicious cycle of relapse and repeat, as most addicts are. Unfortunately, whereas the effective remedy for relapse should be treatment, the penal system’s ‘answer’ is to lock the door and throw away the key,” said Cameron Douglas, in a piece he wrote for the Huffington Post in 2013.
Cameron’s sentence, scheduled for 2018, ended early after good behavior, and now he thinks about writing a book about his memoirs as the son and grandson of movie stars, struggling with substance addiction and living in the Pennsylvania penitentiary. He claims he appreciates the support his family gave him in this difficult situation.
Source: E! Online