News (Media Awareness Project) - US FL: Father Crusades Against Drug Dealers After Son Overdoses |
| Title: | US FL: Father Crusades Against Drug Dealers After Son Overdoses |
| Published On: | 2001-07-25 |
| Source: | Ogdensburg Journal/Advance News (NY) |
| Fetched On: | 2008-01-25 12:48:10 |
FATHER CRUSADES AGAINST DRUG DEALERS AFTER SON OVERDOSES
Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.--It was Super Bowl weekend, and Stevie Steiner was
celebrating. The 19 year old had just moved to Florida and had been
calling his father regularly with news about his electrician's job and his
plans for the future.
The call Steven Steiner Sr. got Jan. 29 was to tell him his eldest son was
dead. And there was more. The autopsy found OxyContin in his blood, a
prescription narcotic increasingly abused for a heroin-like high.
Grieving for his son and outraged that no one was arrested for providing
him with the drug, Steiner decided to take on the dealers himself, all
drug dealers. Steiner launched a Web site for a group he called DAMMADD,
Dads and Mad Moms Against Drug Dealers. The group takes anonymous tips
about drug dealers and manufacturers and passes them on to law enforcement.
If a tip leads to an arrest and conviction, the group offers a reward, up
to $1,500 if it's a street-level dealer. According to the site, there had
been 64 tips in all since it was launched in May and four arrests as of
Wednesday morning.
"I have to wake up every morning and see his picture in the living room and
his urn, and it makes me damn mad," said Steiner, 41, of Tioga Center,
N.Y. "That's what gives me the energy. I'm going to make a difference,
there's no doubt." In Broome County, the southern New York community near
where Steiner lives, about 30 tips have resulted in two arrests. Broome
County Sheriff's Detective Vasili Yacalis said the information received
from Steiner's organization has been credible and more arrests are coming
based on the tips.
"I can see if the tips continue a lot of people are going to find
themselves in jail," Yacalis said. "He's been a tremendous help."
Even Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, the drug linked to Stevie
Steiner's death, gave DAMMADD a $50,000 grant. OxyContin, oxycodone, is a
federally approved painkiller widely prescribed for chronic pain resulting
from problems such as arthritis or cancer. One pill is designed to last 12
hours.
Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.--It was Super Bowl weekend, and Stevie Steiner was
celebrating. The 19 year old had just moved to Florida and had been
calling his father regularly with news about his electrician's job and his
plans for the future.
The call Steven Steiner Sr. got Jan. 29 was to tell him his eldest son was
dead. And there was more. The autopsy found OxyContin in his blood, a
prescription narcotic increasingly abused for a heroin-like high.
Grieving for his son and outraged that no one was arrested for providing
him with the drug, Steiner decided to take on the dealers himself, all
drug dealers. Steiner launched a Web site for a group he called DAMMADD,
Dads and Mad Moms Against Drug Dealers. The group takes anonymous tips
about drug dealers and manufacturers and passes them on to law enforcement.
If a tip leads to an arrest and conviction, the group offers a reward, up
to $1,500 if it's a street-level dealer. According to the site, there had
been 64 tips in all since it was launched in May and four arrests as of
Wednesday morning.
"I have to wake up every morning and see his picture in the living room and
his urn, and it makes me damn mad," said Steiner, 41, of Tioga Center,
N.Y. "That's what gives me the energy. I'm going to make a difference,
there's no doubt." In Broome County, the southern New York community near
where Steiner lives, about 30 tips have resulted in two arrests. Broome
County Sheriff's Detective Vasili Yacalis said the information received
from Steiner's organization has been credible and more arrests are coming
based on the tips.
"I can see if the tips continue a lot of people are going to find
themselves in jail," Yacalis said. "He's been a tremendous help."
Even Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, the drug linked to Stevie
Steiner's death, gave DAMMADD a $50,000 grant. OxyContin, oxycodone, is a
federally approved painkiller widely prescribed for chronic pain resulting
from problems such as arthritis or cancer. One pill is designed to last 12
hours.
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