On the day in 2009 when Cameron Douglas was arrested at a New York hotel for possession of crystal meth, he was given a choice. As he recounts in his memoir, “Long Way Home,” a Drug Enforcement Administration agent told him he could either be taken out the front door, kicking and screaming, or, “for your family’s sake, we can take you out the back way, put you in a car.”

The subject of family permeates Douglas’s book, which Knopf will release on Tuesday, and it remains prominent in his life, even after he served almost eight years in prison for possessing heroin and selling drugs.

He is the oldest son of Michael Douglas, the Academy Award-winning actor and producer, and a grandson of Kirk Douglas, the venerated “Spartacus” star. Though the thought of living up to either one of their reputations would seem paralyzing, Cameron Douglas made it clear in an interview last month that he did not expect anyone’s sympathy for squandering his privileged upbringing.

Nor did he blame the burden of his surname for sinking him into a mire of hard drugs, crime and punishment. “There was nothing anybody could do to get through to me at a certain point,” he said. His voice was tentative, and though he has been a free man since 2016, he spoke like someone who was still getting used to seeing daylight on a regular basis.