Deb Ware stared in numb horror at her son, a frail, 22-year-old man in diapers who looked like he'd had a stroke. For three years, she had battled to save his life, a lonely war against a system that made pharmaceutical opioids cheap and easy to get, in a country that has quietly endured what was
FOUNTAINDALE, Australia — Deb Ware stared in numb horror at her son, a frail, 22-year-old man in diapers who looked like he'd had a stroke.
And yet despite all her efforts to rescue her son from an addiction funded largely by her government, here she was: Standing by, helpless, as doctors prepared to place her child in a coma.Was this goodbye for now, or goodbye for good? How do you say goodbye to your only child? Sam was 19 when it all began, a good kid with a good job as a factory machine operator. He loved photography and walking in the woods and doting on his dog, Holly, and cockatiel, Yazoo. He was close to his mother, who had raised him on her own since he was a toddler, and who shared his fondness for music and the beach. He had little interest in drinking and none in drugs.
Disturbed, Deb took the remaining pills away. But Sam loved the buzz they'd given him. The codeine had made him feel safe and warm, like being tucked into a cozy bed on a cold winter's night.At first, though, he mistakenly believed that he'd need a prescription to get codeine. It took him a few months and a tip from a colleague before he discovered that Australian pharmacies sold it over the counter.
It was so easy. He started going from doctor to doctor, collecting prescriptions for a smorgasbord of opioids: OxyContin, Endone, Targin. But Sam just went to other doctors, riding the train up and down the coast and stopping in clinic after clinic. Deb found his pills in the bathroom ceiling, under the mattress, under the computer keyboard. Whenever he came home, she patted him down. It was futile.
Deb fetched him a bag, into which he ejected a stream of bright pink vomit. He had mixed codeine pills with a codeine-based, pink cough syrup. Deb called the paramedics."I know it's really bad for me," he told her."I won't do this again."He had taken a cocktail of opioids and Lyrica, then walked to a restaurant to pick up a falafel wrap for dinner. His limbs began to jerk. He blacked out.
She kept fighting. She contacted politicians, working her way up to federal Health Minister Greg Hunt. In an email, she begged him to implement a national prescription monitoring system."This is an URGENT situation which must be addressed as soon as possible," she wrote. She refused to bring him home and tried to drop him off at a shopping center. He refused to get out of her car.
She never really intended to hurt either of them that day. But there had been that little voice inside her urging her to do it, just do it, just end the misery now.The end felt near that day in June, when the doctors told Deb to say goodbye and placed Sam into a coma. And then he popped into a doctor's office and got himself a prescription for an opioid and a benzodiazepine."Open your eyes, Sam," Deb orders again, voice tight with rage."OPEN."
On July 19, three weeks later, he steps off the bus, carrying his shopping bag. His sweatshirt and sweatpants hang loosely on his skeletal frame. It is clear from the smell that he hasn't showered.Back at her house, he sits on the porch and stares out at the surrounding gum trees. He ignores the sandwich his mother places in front of him, and begins to talk.
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