Honor Student Succumbs to OxyContin Addiction
Just because a youth is able to achieve the level of an honor student does not mean they are immune to the world of drugs. For Aaron Waller, an addiction to OxyContin led this honor student from an upper-middle class family to a world of robbery and drug trafficking.
According to a post in The Record, Waller was prescribed OxyContin when he was badly hurt in a car accident in 2007. Justice Michael Epstein noted that he gave Waller an unusually lenient sentence because the addiction was caused by the car accident.
“I can’t diminish the importance of this accident on his life,” Epstein said. “He had no trouble with drugs before this.”
Prosecutors had asked instead for a penitentiary term of more than two years. Epstein handed down a sentence of two years less a day in reformatory so Waller could get the treatment he needed for his addiction to OxyContin.
One bad mark for Waller is the fact that he committed his second crime of heroin trafficking just five days after Epstein found him guilty of robbing a pharmacy. Epstein appears to be believe there is a chance for Waller to turn his life around.
“This man has an enormous potential to do good…” he said. “There’s no doubt he has lost his way and he has done so in dramatic fashion.”
Waller pleaded guilty to the heroin trafficking and in the case of the pharmacy robbery, he and another addict scrawled a note on a piece of paper towel, demanding OcyContin pills. The note included a threat to use a gun. Their attempt was successful in that they received 100 pills.