Ryan Dupree was a soccer player, a very good high school kid, had many friends, supportive parents, and loved his life and all the people in it. When he was 16 though he suffered from a prescription drug addiction.  His parents sent him to an in-patient rehabilitation center for treatment. Wen he returned he came back as their son again! They were so happy to have their son back. They said he was ready to take on the world again, work as hard as he could at work, at getting to meetings, new friends, job, school, everything. But for some reason he went back to his old habits.
One day last April his mom heard sirens, “and my heart just stops and I pick up the phone and I hope that I can talk to him, because if I can talk to him the sirens weren’t for him.” Ryan's dad, Scott, was a fire fighter and he saw that the 911 call was for a 15 year old. Ryan was 17, his first thought was “were OK”. But it wasn’t OK, the call was for Ryan and he was dead. The medical examiner ruled that he died from a toxic combination of a narcotic pain killer, an anti-depressant, and Benadryl and cough syrup.
These prescription drugs affect everyone and they aren’t like normal addict stories you hear. People think that these drugs are safe, they’re not, and these people aren’t the mental picture of an addict that you get. They’re not injecting themselves with a dirty needle in a dark alley, or twitching because they’re on coke, or walking around drunk. So many of these addicts are teenagers, rich or middle class teenagers that come from great families. Or adults who have an amazing education and fantastic jobs, these affect everyone!

So how come the call came through as a 15 year old? That is so sad. Such a young life and I'm sure it devastated his parents. It seems like there in no solution for this though. People do what they want and try to escape their lives. You can't take drugs off the street. It would impossible. I think awareness may be helpful though and I know where I live they started playing public service announcements about it to reach a bigger audience.