OXYCONTIN KILLS CLOSE TO HOME

Death Of Officer's Son Spotlights Influx Of Prescription
Drug Into SW Florida

Lee County sheriff's Capt. Jeff Taylor was chatting with a sergeant
about their families when Lt. Matt Powell walked into his office on
June 19, 2003. It was another routine morning until his friend told
Taylor that his son had overdosed on drugs.

As Taylor drove to Gulf Coast Hospital, he thought it would be a great
lesson for his son. His son would get sick -- maybe he'd have his
stomach pumped -- and learn the stupidity of drugs. The teenager's
experience would end with a grand chewing out by dad.

"I went a mile and then I got this cold chill from my head to my toes.
I thought, he's not sick. He's dead," said Taylor, 55. "I got this
overwhelming feeling that this isn't something that can be fixed."

Eighteen-year-old Matt Taylor joined the hundreds of others across the
country who have died from overdosing on OxyContin, a prescribed
painkiller introduced by Purdue Pharma in 1995.

The drug -- often used instead of heroin -- has a time-release effect.
By chewing, snorting or shooting the OxyContin, abusers get a
morphine-like high, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration. A large dose can cause severe respiratory depression,
which can lead to death by slowing a person's breathing to dangerously
low levels.

According to a medical examiner's report, OxyContin contributed to the
deaths of 11 people in Lee, Hendry and Glades counties last year. In
2002, the drug played a part in 12 people's deaths.

"It's a growing problem, and there's an increased amount of it on the
street," said Janice Cook, the Southwest Florida Addiction Services
director of detox. "OxyContin has taken over crack (for
addictions)."

Until Matt's overdose, the 30-year law enforcement veteran who had
headed up the county's narcotics unit for six years worried more about
Matt, his older brother, Erik, 23, and his sister, Holly, 21, drinking
and driving.

"That was my greatest fear, especially with two sons," Taylor
said.

"I just think at some point I missed the presentation of telling him
that particular pill will kill you. I had no idea that he would take
it. I never dreamed in a million years he would do that."

This sparked the sheriff's watch commander to dig deeper into what
happened to Matt, a motorcycle enthusiast who hoped to become an Army
Ranger. The son his father called a "scrapper" had just earned his
General Educational Development certificate and was planning to join
the Army when he died.

Taylor's journey revealed heartbreaking details -- a string of bad
choices made by his son and his friends.

The night before Matt died, he went to a party at a house in San
Carlos Park. That's where he took the OxyContin.

Around 5 a.m., while he was staying at a friend's house, he began to
have trouble breathing.

For the next five hours, Matt struggled for air. His friends tried to
help by sitting him up, shaking him and throwing water on him, Taylor
said.

"Then they finally realized he was dead," he said. "For whatever
reason, they didn't get him help."

THE MOURNING BEGINS

Not satisfied with the sheriff's office investigation, Taylor began
digging into his son's death. He wanted to know who gave his son the
drugs.

Taylor learned his son had two undissolved OxyContin pills in his
stomach.

"There was something else he had taken -- some more OxyContin in his
system -- that killed him," he said.

For years, the captain heard about OxyContin. "But we were dealing
with midlevel smugglers and things. We didn't see OxyContin," he said.

Taylor began researching OxyContin on the Internet and talking to
people.

"First I drove down to San Carlos and started interviewing people who
were at this party," he said.

He eventually backed off his personal investigation of who gave his
son the drug.

"I was not real sure that when I found someone who gave him the stuff
what would happen to that guy. At that point, I had this revenge thing.

"I blame whoever gave it to him and wherever he got it, and I blame
the people at that house for not doing anything about it. I thought
the department could do a thorough investigation of tracking down
where it came from."

He blames the drug company, Purdue Pharma, for making it so easily
available.

And he blames Matt for taking the drugs.

In his quest for answers, Taylor learned he was not
alone.

"I then stumbled into the Web site," Taylor said referring to
www.oxyabusekills.com.

He read story after story of others who had died from taking too much
OxyContin -- just like Matt.

WORDS OF WARNING

Taylor finds peace visiting his son's grave at Fort Myers Memorial
Gardens Cemetery once -- sometimes twice -- a day. He'll spend 15
minutes to several hours talking to Matt.

Taylor hopes telling Matt's story to the world will warn others about
the dangers of OxyContin. The captain plans to take what he has
learned to the middle and high schools. Next month, he plans to drive
to Orlando, where a U.S. congressional hearing on OxyContin is scheduled.

"If I'm a guy who has been in the field for 30 years (as a cop) and I
didn't understand that it's like taking poison, how would an 18-year-
old at a party know about that?" he said.