Donald Paetz: Prescription pills can be just as deadly as heroin

There are monsters in this world, but we foolishly tell our children there are not.

Last Saturday, I attended the viewing of my 19-year-old nephew, who had died a few days earlier from an overdose of prescription drugs he'd obtained from someone here in Carson City.

As I looked at his quiet, peaceful face for the very last time, I thought I felt my heart skip a beat as the tears welled up in my eyes. I leaned over and kissed his cold forehead, and whispered softly into his ear, "God be with you. I'll see you again someday in glory."

Such a devastating loss as this has brought so much sadness to our family. Only time will heal our broken hearts.

As a former drug user who has been clean for six years now, I feel as though it is my duty to pass on to parents, children and young people in their 20s the dangers of prescription drugs, heroin or just drug use in general, no matter what they are.

Heroin has made a big comeback in Carson City and the surrounding areas, and like the black plague, it is just as devastating. Its target, it seems, is high school and even middle school students, as well as people in their 20s. I know this to be true because I secretary meetings of the counseling center detox and 28-day drug and alcohol program here in Carson City.

Prescription drugs are very easy to find; just about anyone who has the slightest pain has them. When young people are addicted to heroin, whether it's by smoking, snorting or intravenously, and can't seem to find any heroin, their only alternative is to find someone who illegally sells prescription drugs such as Xanax, Morphine, Oxycodone and Dilaudid, the drug thought to be responsible for my nephew's death.

The effects of these drugs may be similar to the effects of heroin, but if too much is used, the end result can be just as fatal, a tough lesson our family found out the hard way.

There is a message I must tell parents and children, one that stems from my nephew's death, for if I don't, then his death was in vain. My family thought that something like this would never happen, but it did happen, and it could happen to you.

Hold your children ever so close to you. Let them know they are loved by all, because one day, they will leave home. Always be honest with them, tell them to beware of drugs, and the people who sell them because there are monsters in this world, and they do not hide underneath their beds, either. They creep into young people's lives with a smile, a kind word, with little plastic bags, funny-shaped pills and pretty little balloons.

• Donald Paetz is from Carson City. If you have questions regarding signs of drug abuse or other concerns, he may be contacted at 720-1601.