Certain that heroin killed her teenage son, Euless mom hopes his story helps other parents

Maybe the first time when the parents knew they should have stuck him in rehab instead of hoping the problem would go away. And the sentence of dealing with nagging parents was to do heroin???What the hell? Get over it, all parents nag sounds like he had more serious issues.

Lots of kids have nagging parents, come from poor homes, lose jobs and don't turn to drugs. Maybe the kid just liked taking drugs ? which caused him to lose jobs, his parents to nag him and creating a lack of funds for him to become somewhat stable or at least move out.
Not sure what this article is supposed to mean with its message. Could have been written better and not from this victim mode it reeks of.

shugarNspice wrote:

Lots of kids have nagging parents, come from poor homes, lose jobs and don't turn to drugs. Maybe the kid just liked taking drugs ? which caused him to lose jobs, his parents to nag him and creating a lack of funds for him to become somewhat stable or at least move out.
Not sure what this article is supposed to mean with its message. Could have been written better and not from this victim mode it reeks of.

You're exactly right.

well glad to hear someone knows what I mean. It's written with such a strange perspective, as if the kid was a victim. He had a long history of drug use, maybe he just liked taking them which caused all the other problems and not the other way around. ya know?

Perhaps this article was written by someone who was trying to write it as some type of message to other kids ? because the realities of it are that we cannot say he was a victim of herion, could be he was an drug abuser who just miscalculated his usual fix.
Still, its sad when a young person dies, he was just 19. I am sorry he died but lets not make heroin out to be the reason he died. he died because he made poor choices.

It's hard to comment on a story like this unless you know ALL the facts.

But ...
Too many "parents" look the other way for too long, they ignore their kids, they're too busy, too self-involved, whatever, and the kids start getting into trouble. Whatever happened to parents actually KNOWING what their kids are doing, where they are, who they're with??? When did it become unacceptable to snoop in your kid's life, when did it become OK to just let your child just live their own life without restrictions, without parental concern and involvement?

Kids have garbage coming at them from every direction - peer pressures, being stressed about succeeding early and making money, drugs, alcohol, smoking, negative influences from tv and movies, and the media acting as though you're a failure if you haven't made your first million by the age of 18 ... add to all that, an epidemic of bad and neglectful parenting - and kids don't have a chance.

OH MY GOD!!!! I went to elementary, jr. high and high school with Alex! He was so sweet, he used to buy my lunch all the time. I would have NEVER thought he'd turn to drugs. This is my first time hearing about this, it's so sad :(

I think that you can't judge the family based on an article alone. I know this family very well, and they did everything they could for him. He didn't develop a "drug" problem till after he was over 18, so the parent's couldn't force him into rehab. They pleaded with him to go to rehab over and over again and he refused. Young people get into things they shouldn't all the time, and sometimes it only takes one mistake for them die. This could easily be yours or anyone elses child, so you should show respect for the family. Rememeber, "there before the grace of God go I!!!" Alex was someone's child and he was filled with potential. If we were in the 1960's he probably wouldn't have done more than smoke weed and drink alcohol, but today drugs, like "cheese heroin," are cheap, and easily available. They don't look or sound that dangerous till you find your kid dead!!!!

Traveling Texan wrote:

I think that you can't judge the family based on an article alone. I know this family very well, and they did everything they could for him. He didn't develop a "drug" problem till after he was over 18, so the parent's couldn't force him into rehab. They pleaded with him to go to rehab over and over again and he refused. Young people get into things they shouldn't all the time, and sometimes it only takes one mistake for them die. This could easily be yours or anyone elses child, so you should show respect for the family. Rememeber, "there before the grace of God go I!!!" Alex was someone's child and he was filled with potential. If we were in the 1960's he probably wouldn't have done more than smoke weed and drink alcohol, but today drugs, like "cheese heroin," are cheap, and easily available. They don't look or sound that dangerous till you find your kid dead!!!!

His bad choices led to a bad outcome. He chose to do the drugs, he was not that dumb that he didn't know the possible outcome of heroin.

Hmmm wrote:

<quoted text>
His bad choices led to a bad outcome. He chose to do the drugs, he was not that dumb that he didn't know the possible outcome of heroin.

Maybe you should look up what "cheese heroin" is before you make comments like this. Of course he made bad choices, but he didn't think they would kill him, and neither did the other kids that died from this drug. It must be nice to be so perfect that you have never made a bad choice. Kids easily die from alcohol poisoning too, but I don't see you criticizing them so harshly. Of course he made a bad choice, but people make bad choices all the time, and they usually don't die from them. I don't think you would be so judgemental if it was your own child or a child of someone you knew. Here is link to a story on "cheese heroin>" I hope it can clarify to everyone what this drug actually is.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/06/12/cheese.heroi...

Traveling Texan wrote:

<quoted text>
Maybe you should look up what "cheese heroin" is before you make comments like this. Of course he made bad choices, but he didn't think they would kill him, and neither did the other kids that died from this drug. It must be nice to be so perfect that you have never made a bad choice. Kids easily die from alcohol poisoning too, but I don't see you criticizing them so harshly. Of course he made a bad choice, but people make bad choices all the time, and they usually don't die from them. I don't think you would be so judgemental if it was your own child or a child of someone you knew. Here is link to a story on "cheese heroin>" I hope it can clarify to everyone what this drug actually is.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/06/12/cheese.heroi...

Drugs are drugs, don't care what it is and anyone that wants to experiment or use them often, rolls the dice of life. It's not that he tried it once and died, he was a habitual user according to his mother. It's sad that kids believe they are invinceable. When they keep taking the drugs over and over to self medicate their issues in life they also know the potential outcome...they choose their own destiny.

Hmmm wrote:

<quoted text>
Drugs are drugs, don't care what it is and anyone that wants to experiment or use them often, rolls the dice of life. It's not that he tried it once and died, he was a habitual user according to his mother. It's sad that kids believe they are invinceable. When they keep taking the drugs over and over to self medicate their issues in life they also know the potential outcome...they choose their own destiny.

Great reply! I have a 20 year old daughter who had information thrown to her left and right through schools, public announcements, TV, radio etc. I hate to see anyone die, but he knew drugs were ILLEGAL the first time he used them, and by the way - most don't get addicted the first time of use, just through repeated uses. I'm very glad that he did not take his drugs, get into a car, and kill my family.

Of course he knew the drugs were illegal, but he was also a teenager who had poor judgement. If you knew anything at all about brain development, you would know that the prefrontal cortex of the brain is not well developed in teenagers, which is why teenagers have poor judgement and crazy emotions. The combination of these two puts many teenagers at risk for drug abuse, alcohol abuse, and schizophrenia. You are very lucky if you made it through the teenage years with your children and saw none of these effects.

Many teenagers make bad choices and we don't expect them to die for it. I'm glad that Alex didn't hurt anyone besides his family during his addiction. I'm afraid that in today's society problems like this are only going to get worse before they get better. Kids have access to more things than you or I can ever imagine. Again, consider yourself lucky to have children without any problems that you know of!!! However, don't try to verbally destroy a family because their son mad a mistake. This family has another older Son that came out perfect. He finished college, got married, and never had any mental or drug problems. So, you can't put all the blame on the parents. The fault was with Alex, not them!!

Alex, I think about you often. Years later I still don't even know what happened. Sometimes I feel like I could have done something, even though I knew nothing of your habits (but there was a nagging gut feeling that something wasn't quite right). You were like a little brother to me, though I know I didn't make that clear enough.

We were outcasts for sure, and I know that you had it harder than anybody, though you still managed to make it through. I understand those hardships more than anybody, and I don't think the pain really ever goes away. I barely left high school intact; it sounds silly now, but that was the reality then.
Sometimes I imagine myself finding the people who introduced you to these things, and turning them into the police, or possibly bringing them to justice myself, but knowing that will never happen, I simply think about what you'd be doing now. What things would we talk about. What new video games were like perhaps, maybe we'd even play them together. We could even play tennis again like we once had, but without all the self hatred, negative energy, and false friends surrounding us.
Every time I see a car like his, or pass by his old house, I think of him, and all the time we spent together. Unfortunately it's largely tainted by the horrifying time we had in high school. I have no idea what caused it, was it because we had funny last names?, were we too foreign to be accepted? Whatever it was, it was clear that we were not wanted, by anybody. The faculty certainly didn't want to help us, in fact our very existence burdened them. It was a gruesome combination of events, a perfect storm. Our parents wanted the best for us, but they knew nothing about how things worked in this country.
While I was overwhelmed and burdened by a stupid and meaningless job, you were off doing other things. You had achieved so much so soon. You were on the Dean's list at NLC, don't think I didn't know that. You had a great job for your age at one point. I have no idea what happened, but regardless, I was very proud of you. I just wish I had known what you were going through and to what extent, so I could somehow talk you out of it. I know that's a stupid and impossible thought, but it still bothers me that I couldn't do something for you in that respect.

As far as the comments regarding Alex expressed in the above posts; I have to disagree with most of them. Alex was sometimes difficult to deal with, as we all are. He had enormous pressure on him to succeed (parental and otherwise), and an older brother to compete with. He was more than capable to achieve anything, but he was given no hope. I feel very guilty for not being the one to bring him some, because I too was extraordinarily hopeless. I do know however, what he went through, going through some of the same myself. He was tortured by childhood friends, turned to sworn enemies. Ignored and unappreciated at school, blamed for things he didn't do, and treated worse than a belligerent drop out.

I feel a great deal of regret. I didn't stand up for him like I should've, fearing the consequences it would've brought me. I regret not being the positive force that he needed to feel better about everything. Anyhow, I miss you. I know you're off somewhere in the great beyond, laughing at all of this, but still I'm very sad that you're not around anymore. We had some very hard times, but we experienced them together, and you were one of the only people on Earth who could understand that, if not the only.
Your memory lives on, through me, and I'll never forget.

PS. I told the reporter who harassed me to bug off, since I knew you wouldn't like being discussed on the local news.

shugarNspice wrote:

Lots of kids have nagging parents, come from poor homes, lose jobs and don't turn to drugs. Maybe the kid just liked taking drugs ? which caused him to lose jobs, his parents to nag him and creating a lack of funds for him to become somewhat stable or at least move out.
Not sure what this article is supposed to mean with its message. Could have been written better and not from this victim mode it reeks of.

I TOTALLY "co-sign" THIS....THIS right here is a REALITY-SLAP in the face !!! KUDOS !!