13-Year-Old Boy Dies from OxyContin Overdose
The last words Alexander Aiken said to his mom, Jennifer Bethel, were “I love you too, Mom.” The next morning, Bethel found her 13-year-old son dead at 7 am in his bedroom of an OxyContin overdose. His friend was hospitalized with the same condition an hour later.
“I would give anything to have five more minutes with my son, just to hold him, just to hug him and tell him how much I loved him,” she said through sobs Wednesday.
Bethel, a resident of Rock County, Wisconsin, told her son and his friend to turn off their video games and go to bed at 10:30 pm Monday night. She had no idea her son had gotten OxyContin after school from a friend. She said her son was not addicted to OxyContin or other drugs.
“He tried it once and paid the ultimate consequence,” Bethel said. Three pills were found undigested in his stomach, she said. “I don’t know how many he did digest.”
Ted Sullivan of the Gazette Extra said Bethel said she wanted the newspaper to report her son’s name because she hopes his story could save other lives. She said her son’s friends have told her others are using prescription drugs, too.
“I don’t want any parents to go through what I went through—picking out your kid’s casket,” she said. “All parents should be aware of this drug and talk to their kids. If friends are doing it, they need to come forward.”
“He made an impression on people in five minutes,” Bethel said of her son. “He was amazing. He was my whole world. “I’ll miss out on so much because of one stupid mistake.”
Law enforcement officials said Wednesday prescription drug abuse is a growing problem among Rock County teens.
“It’s very prevalent, probably at the same level as marijuana use,” Janesville Police Sgt. Jim Holford said. “Pills are very readily available. They do sell them and trade them among themselves.”
Investigators are trying to determine where Aiken might have gotten the drugs, Rock County Sheriff’s Capt. Todd Christiansen said. No arrests have been made.
Kids commonly get pills from family members or a medicine cabinet, Holford said. They also get them online.
Prescription drugs often are a gateway to heroin, another drug that has caused at least 13 overdose deaths in Rock County in the last two years, he said.
Investigators have heard stories of people bringing pills to a party and mixing them in a bowl in the middle of the room, Holford said. They then pass the bowl around and swallow pills without knowing what they are.
People need to secure prescription drugs in their homes and dispose of leftover pills, Rock County Sheriff Bob Spoden said.
Children also need to know the dangers of swallowing medications without knowing what they are or what dosage is appropriate, he said.
“It’s just sad,” Spoden said. “It’s heartbreaking.”