Wesley was a very likeable person to all that knew him. We were close as mother and son. Wesley in some ways grew up without father figure, his dad and I divorced when he was 5 years old. Wesley was always into some mischief at school. But, he would give his shirt off his back if some one needed it. His drug use started with tobacco chewing. I had made him swallow a whole dip one day when I had caught him. He said he would never do that again, but he would sneak and do it anyway, this was at age 13. The county we were from was at that time the largest Oxycotin abused city per capita in the USA; Lee County, VA. I had decided to move to North Carolina and I had hoped this would give Wesley a better chance. By the time we reached two years there, he was already kicked out of the high school. I wanted him to get his GED, but he just kept telling me he would get it one day. I began to notice some changes in him; sleeping, eating, staying out late, and not calling me to let me know what was going on. Then, one night he woke up his younger sister Meaghan to let him in. I could smell the alcohol, he had been drinking. I told him to go to bed and we would talk about it when I got home from work. At that time he was working for a concrete construction company. He was a hard worker and made good money. He would get paid every Friday, then be broke by Sunday. I was remodeling his room when I found marijuana and rolling papers under his mattress. He admitted that it was his. I asked him to please stop bringing this into our home and told him that if he came in intoxicated again I was going to do something about it. A couple of months had passed and he seemed to be doing well. At the time was saving to go to Real Estate school. I had $500.00 and it went missing. He said he didn't have it and he did not steal the money. That weekend he came in drunk again and I told him to pack his things and go. I was so mad at him. I didn't know what to do but give him tough love. This happened 2 weeks after his 19th birthday. I had an idea where he was and called over to check on him. He was there. I told him I loved him but he could not do these things, they were wrong. He hung the phone up on me, and that was the last time I talked to my son. Thanksgiving came and there was no Wesley. I was worried. I took out a well being report for him, but the police department was no HELP. The phone number where he was the first time I called him had been disconnected. I had no clue where to look. At that time I worked at the hospital as a lab technician and I had been asking my church to pray for him to come home. On Jan 5, 2005, the day that changed my life forever, I was told they had my son Wesley in the morgue which was next door to where I worked. I just could not grasp Wesley was dead. I talked to the police and they said they had a 911 call that a lady named Kendra had called to report her son was lying on his bedroom floor unresponsive. His mother? How could that be? His body was sent to have an autopsy. In March of 2005, Wesley's liver samples showed lethal doses of Oxycotin and Morphine. I thought it was going to take forever to have the reports to come back. Even though he thought he wasn't loved, he was loved. I have felt so guilty. The house he had been in was condemned by the county. It was so unlike the house he was used to be living in and had been raised in. I guess the drugs took over his life. Since then I have joined a drug council and have designed pamphlets. We made a DVD on the metamorphosis of drugs. I have been working in the local schools to help teenagers understand the gateways and the dangers of drugs, and to keep his death in vein. I am sure I have missed a lot of parts of my story, but if you are a teenager reading this or a parent- do not be in denial of the drugs that are around your teenagers. Wesley thought, "I am young, nothing can kill or hurt me." Better think again. Peer pressure, the need to be cool, and hanging out with friends that are doing the drugs will put you 6 feet under. All it takes is one time experimenting!!! SAY NO TO DRUGS!!!!