Tips from a Mother Who Lost Her Son to Prescription Drug Abuse
It’s incredibly difficult to watch a loved one struggle with addiction to prescription drugs, especially when it’s your child. Michele Baskin, 47, of Ponca City, Oklahoma, watched her son, Andrew Newport, battle an addiction to OxyContin for years before he died of an overdose last year at age 22.
January W. Payne of US News writes that Andrew and his friends started experimenting with over-the-counter cough syrup when he was about 15. He progressed to marijuana, Ecstasy, the anti-anxiety medication Xanax, and finally to OxyContin, which he injected "almost like heroin," Baskin says. Despite stints in rehab, Andrew relapsed, largely because of peer pressure, according to his mother.
Baskin offers several words of advice to help other parents:
Watch for stealing. Even if an at-risk child no longer lives at home, you may notice that money and valuable items disappear. "I never had money at my house," Baskin says. When Andrew died, "he owed over $13,000 in bills…He stole anything that wasn't tied down and hawked it." He sometimes came to her workplace and stole money from her desk.
Recognize instability at work or in school. Because the addiction is stronger than anything else, someone with a serious drug problem often struggles to keep a job or keep up with school.
Don't rely on stereotypes to tell you how a drug addict should look. Many people assume that all drug addicts look and act a certain way, and "that's not what these kids [who abuse prescription drugs] look like," Baskin says, adding that Andrew was "a very polite, obedient, very loving child.”
Follow your instincts as a parent. Baskin says she could tell that Andrew was high just by looking at him. "Their eyes are just hollow," she says. "There was just nothing there. I could tell the minute he walked in."
Don't assume one overdose will serve as a wake-up call. When Andrew overdosed in July 2008, "They had to shock his heart twice," Baskin says. He was in a coma for two days, and he had hearing loss in one ear as a result. But the near-death experience wasn't enough of a scare. The overdose that took Andrew’s life occurred just a few months later. When he was found unresponsive at the halfway house where he was living, it was too late to revive him, Baskin says.
Don't blame yourself if your efforts to help your child fail. "We have peace about his death," Baskin says. "He's in a good place now. He doesn't hurt anymore."