NO LONGER POWERLESS: FATHER TURNS CRUSADER

Web Site Offers Rewards And Tips On Drug Dealers

TIOGA CENTER, N.Y. The first time Steven Steiner tried to fight back
against drug dealers poisoning his son and millions of other American
teens, he couldn't find the words or the passion.

He was just another parent who felt powerless - until his 19-year-old son
died from a prescription drug overdose in January 2001.

Since then, the 41-year-old electrician has turned into a crusader. He
founded Dads and Mad Moms Against Drug Dealers, or DAMMADD.

"Since Stevie's death, this is how I have a chance to work closer with him,
to work together," Steiner said. "Believe me, my candle isn't going out any
time soon."

DAMMADD accepts tips about drug dealers over the Internet and offers
rewards ranging from $100 to $1,500 for information leading to a
conviction. Thirty-eight law enforcement agencies in 14 states - Alaska,
Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire,
New York, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Washington - have started
formal partnerships with the organization.

Tips quickly led to 21 arrests in New York and Maine, 10 of them resulting
in convictions.

Broome County Sheriff David Harder is impressed by the quality and quantity
of tips DAMMADD has received.

"It sort of reminds me of the "America's Most Wanted" show on television,"
he said. "It gives citizens a way to fight back."

Drug user at 13

As Steiner recalled the final tortured years of his son's brief life, a
3-foot-tall photograph of Stevie stood against a wall in his living room.
Nearby was an urn containing his ashes. They anchor a small memorial that
has grown by the front window.

Steiner said the idea for DAMMADD took seed while Stevie was attending
junior high school in Middletown, N.J. He struggled with academics but
thrived when he could work with his hands.

At 13, he started learning his father's trade. He was also learning about
marijuana and alcohol.

Steiner approached school administrators and local businesses about setting
up a reward fund and putting a bounty on drug dealers. Administrators balked.

"I didn't have the message back then. I really didn't," he said.

All the while, Stevie was getting in deeper. In 1996, he stole his father's
credit card and ran away. Steiner had him arrested, pressed charges and
placed him in a juvenile hall for three months.

After jail, the Steiners moved to upstate New York for a fresh start, and
it appeared 16-year-old Stevie had straightened out his life. He continued
working with his father. He saved money and bought a car.

But by age 18, it was clear Stevie was again involved with drugs.

"He wasn't an addict. He never bought drugs. He would only smoke and drink
on weekends, with his friends and at parties," Steiner said.

He believes his son was acting on a dare on Jan. 29, 2000, while at a Super
Bowl party in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. Police said Stevie snorted a fatal
mix of Ecstasy and OxyContin, a powerful prescription painkiller.

The DAMMADD Web site has graphic photos of Stevie's bruised and bloated
body - the way police found him. His father displays the same photos when
he talks at area schools.

His message conveys an honesty cloaked in pain.

"Drug dealers are terrorists," he said. "Drug dealers are child molesters.
Not sexual, but the mental abuse. They are stealing their youth, their
integrity."

'Immediate success'

Within two weeks of becoming a DAMMADD partner in mid-March, the Brewer
Police Department in Maine received 16 tips, including one that helped lead
to the arrest of five people and the seizure of crack cocaine and heroin.

"We had almost immediate success, so we think this is a great intelligence
tool," Sgt. Perry Antone said.

"People are sometimes hesitant to get involved. In small towns, everyone
knows everyone and there is a fear that things will get tracked back if
someone steps up with information," Antone said. "With DAMMADD's system, I
think people feel pretty insulated."

From the basement of his home 85 miles south of Syracuse near the
Pennsylvania state line, Steiner monitors the computer tip line. His wife,
Julie, runs the family electrician's business from a computer on the other
side of the room.

Crumb-littered plates and a row of dirty glasses attest to the long hours
Steiner spends at the computer, checking incoming tips to verify
authenticity. The system has several layers of security and encryption to
protect tipsters.

The credible tips he passes on to law enforcement.

Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, gave Steiner $100,000 in grants to
develop DAMMADD after he described the project to its representatives. The
company will soon distribute tent cards with tear-off sheets promoting the
organization.

In January, Steven and Julie Steiner quietly observed the first anniversary
of Stevie's death by instituting the Law Enforcement User Interface system,
which automatically routes tips by ZIP code. Steiner spent a few minutes
that day telling his dead son what he has helped accomplish.

"I have a focus. I have a vision," he said. "It is getting all the parents,
all the families, all the communities and everyone together. . . . We're
not going to just sit here and let our kids die one by one. We're going to
do something to fight back."