ADDICTS OVERCOME 'DEMON SPIRIT' OF DRUG

"Jesus Is Coming," declares the bug shield on a coal truck belching
smoke as it winds through town. Some here feel it will take nothing
short of a miracle to stop the ravages of OxyContin abuse.

James Simpson seems an unlikely candidate to be leading the
revival.

Simpson spent 20 of his 33 years addicted to one drug or another. He
served two years in prison for an arson committed while he was high.
He once threw his pregnant girlfriend off a porch and into the street.

But after two weeks of shooting OxyContin, Simpson says he found God.
Now he prowls the streets of Gilbert like some tattooed John the
Baptist, looking for souls to save.

"Drug addiction is a demon spirit, and it's of Satan," Simpson says
breathlessly as he prepares for a Tuesday evening prayer service.
"And the only way it's going to be broken is by the power of God."

Sammy Cox has become a believer.

"9-27-99," he says. That's the day he started his slide into
OxyContin addiction.

Cox, 33, fell off the cage of a dozer on a logging job. He suffered a
crushed eye socket, a broken nose and multiple breaks in his right
arm.

At one point, Cox says he was up to 10 pills a day. The 6-foot-tall
man shriveled down to 130 pounds. His brother told him how bad he looked.

But there is another important date in Cox's life -- 3-25-2001. That's
the day he answered an altar call at the New Hope Victory Center
Church across from Simpson's house.

Cox says he quit that night and suffered none of the withdrawal
symptoms others have told of. Two weeks later, as proof of his new
faith, he burned his last Oxy prescriptions.

Standing in front of the church after a recent evening service, Cox
looks content. He has gained back 20 of the pounds he lost. He has
started his own lawn care business.

"I've been happy every day, but that goes back to God," he says,
bouncing from foot to foot. "He put love, joy and peace inside of me
that I couldn't find in drugs. I feel that every day. I get up and I
have incredible amounts of energy. Actually, I feel like a teen-ager
again. ...

"I've just got so much to look forward to."

Cox is one of the lucky ones.