DeHaven - Defining Moments: A Suburban Fathers Journey into his Sons Oxy Addiction

By Bradley V. DeHaven

Smashwords edition, published by Bradley V.DeHaven

Copyright 2011

This book is available in a print edition athttp://www.rxdrugaddict.com.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoymentonly. This ebook may not be sold or given away to other people. Ifyou would like to share this book with another person, pleasepurchase an additional copy for each recipient. Thank you forrespecting the hard work of this author.

I dedicate this book to my wife Lisa, the oneperson who has been with me through more ups and downs than anyonecould ever imagine. You never know when or if the perfect personwill appear. The fateful night I set eyes on her set in motioneverything that would happen to me for the rest of my life. Icouldnt be happier that I was fortunate enough to be in the rightplace at the perfect time to meet my soul mate. She is the mostbeautiful person, both inside and out. She has been an inspirationfor me and making her happy is the goal of my life. We are bestfriends, confidants, partners, and true lovers and together we areone. I cant imagine my existence without her, and I know thateverything I am and all I will become is shaped by her genuinekindness. Meeting Lisa is the most important defining moment in mylife.

I would like to thank all of the drug andalcohol rehabilitation professionals who choose to tackle thedaunting task of attempting to help those in this world who cannottake just one drink but must consume the whole bottle and those whocannot take a prescription pill as prescribed but must crush,snort, smoke or inject these powerful drugs to feed the monster ofaddiction. Many of these counselors and staff who help the addictsin our lives were once addicts themselves. They choose to giveback because they have either finally come to understand whatcaused them to want to destroy themselves and are compelled toshare this knowledge or they know that they can only continue theirsobriety by staying where they found it, or both. Either way, theyare the students who became the teachers of recovery and only theyare bullet proof to the lies that flow so freely from an addictsmouth. I would like to thank the staff of Narconon and every otherfacility that helps our addicts attempt to identify and handle thedemon they cannot resist.

I would like to thank Chris Tillman forencouraging me to turn my cathartic writings into a book to sharemy story with others. I would like to thank my mother for being thebest mother she could be despite astronomical obstacles that faceda single parent in the 60s with no financial support from herfirst husband and an abusive second husband. Mom, we never knew howhard life was for you because you made sure we came first and youprotected us the best you could! To my son Bryce, I would like tothank you for all of your accomplishments and helping me as afather not have a complete melt down because at least I knew Iwasnt a complete failure as a Dad. You gave me the hope andcourage to continue to try to understand your brother and his drugaddiction and eventually the addiction of others. And a specialThank You to my editor, Robin Martin of Two Songbirds Press, forbelieving in my story and my ability to convey it. I couldnt havecompleted this without you!

Part I: Defining Moments

I sit alone in my new quad truck with its22-inch rims; it looks like some 20-year-old spoiled brat hasdecked it out. I am tucked away in a remote parking space at aretail shopping center. No one would normally park this far fromthe grocery store, which anchors an array of businesses, at leastnot this late at night in this sparsely populated lot. I know thisplace well, as this is where my wife and I buy our groceries. It isin an upper class neighborhood serving the wealthy residents wholive in their posh homes nearby. The front of my truck faces ashort decorative fence, which borders a greenbelt area, and I stareacross the wetlands that the railing protects. As I sit, I thinkabout the circumstances in my life that brought me to this spot. Iam alert to my surroundings but distracted by my thoughts. Thefingers on my left hand slowly stroke my bottom lip and thendownward across my graying goatee. It is eerily quiet but my mindpounds with the noise in my head. My attention should be entirelyon the task at hand and not the events in my life that lead mehere, but my mind hiccoughs.

I am here because this is where the drugdealers will meet me. They have $2500 in cash in exchange for theone hundred 80 milligram Oxycontin tablets which are in a smallplastic bottle, tucked away into my jacket pocket. I have justturned fifty years old, which is older than the combined age of theyoung couple who will be meeting me. It is early 2009, and the drugI have in my pocket was not even available when I was a teenager.In my younger days the contents in my pocket would have beencocaine or marijuana, but times have changed.

The eventual recipients of these pills willbe the addicts who crave them more than a next meal or the love oftheir family, or anything for that matter. The pills are small,round and an odd green colora powerful prescription drugmanufactured to relieve severe pain. They are essentially syntheticheroin, and much sought after by the drug addicts who litter yourstreets, work alongside you and perhaps sit next to you at a familydinner. They are daughters or sons or parents. The street price forthese pills could reach up to $80 each while the co-pay at thepharmacy for the insured who are prescribed these pills could be aslittle as $10 for a quantity of ninety. That is quite a tidy profitfor all involved, and the sellers do not care what casualties wait.That is about all that stays the same in the drug world decadeafter decade.

The pill commonly referred to by the streetname Oxy does not get swallowed by addicts in the way thepharmaceutical companies intended. To intensify the effect of thedrug, they consume the pills in alternative ways: First, theyremove the time release coating that covers the pill by eitherscrapping it off with their fingernail or using a wet paper towel.Then, they crush the tablet into a powder and snort it. Whensnorting the Oxy begins to clog up and destroy their noses, or justisnt getting them high enough, the addict places the pill whole,without the coating, onto a small square of aluminum foil, andholds a lighter underneath. The addict rolls the pill around thefoil in an odd balancing act so as not to lose the pill off theedge of the hot foil, or to leave it in one hot spot too long. Asit slides from side to side the lighter is moved just ahead of it.The pill slowly vaporizes as it is cooked from beneath. A thin lineof fumes from the pill is released into the air and the addictinhales the vapor through a stem pipe. Addicts hardly notice thattheir fingers and thumbs burn; blisters form where the flame licksback from the bottom of the foil. As the pill slides back andforth, it leaves behind a zigzagging black mark resembling a linemade by an indelible pen. This technique is called chasing thedragon, and is reminiscent of a technique for ingesting heroin,Oxys unfashionable, yet omnipresent, cousin.

When addicts become so addicted that theycannot afford the quantity of Oxy they need to satisfy theircravings, as the appetite exceeds the budget, it is time for thenext phase of this vicious cycle. Addicts will do what they saidthey would never do. Steal money. Sell their bodies to strangers.Encourage their girlfriend or wife to sell her body. Anything toget the cash they desperately need to feed the demon that ownsthem. The most extreme way to increase Oxys effect is to reducethe powder to a liquid, draw it into a syringe, and shoot it intotheir veins, warming them from the inside out. Sound familiar?There is nothing more glamorous about this drug than heroin. Thesame addiction, the same diseases, the same low-down disgustinglying homeless in the alley and piss your pants drugOxy isessentially synthetic heroin. And the last step, when addicts canno longer afford Oxy, is to get on heroin.