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"It's a very screwed-up family," says Griffin, 43. "If you want to be emotionally healthy and strong, you've got to get out .... It's a truly sad situation."
Griffin has also battled drug addiction and says he is now two years sober. While he no longer speaks to his father, 67, the younger O'Neal remains close to his sister Tatum, 44.
Griffin is currently staying with her in New York, where he's seeking treatment for Melorheostosis, a rare bone disease which may necessitate amputation of his left leg.
"It's horribly painful," Griffin says. "It's off the scale on the pain."
Ryan O'Neal's lawyer declined to respond to Griffin's comments. But the lawyer did tell PEOPLE the drugs found by police in O'Neal's home didn't belong to him and O'Neal "will be fully vindicated."
For more on the O'Neal family troubles, read this week's issue of PEOPLE on newsstands Friday.
