A song for Justine

A new generation puts its own imprint on addiction.

Zach Crotty died October 26th, 2009 from an addiction to prescription opiates that took over his life. It was only 25 days after his 19th birthday. This blog is dedicated to Zach's memory, and the hope that retelling Zach's story, will help save the lives of others.

August 7, 2013

I'm Zach's Mom, Suzanne, I miss my son beyond words! It's been three years, nine months and 12 days that the damn prescription drugs took Zach from us.  Zach died of an accidental overdose of illegal methadone (he was on prescribed Suboxone) and prescribed psychotropic medication (he was given these drugs by a Psychiatrist for anxiety knowing that he was being treated for an opiate addiction).  Everyday we wonder what Zach would be doing now.  Would he be traveling? Finishing college? Starting his own business? Writing music? Why was he taken from us? 

Zach wrote journals and music. I believe that when we share his writings the reader will see that Zach's story could be your son or daughter.  He didn't want to be afflicted with this disease but the drugs changed who he was and controlled him.

We've started this blog to raise the awareness of this epidemic that has continued to take too many other young lives.  Drug use and the devastating problems it causes can be prevented.  Addiction is a disease and not just a life style choice. Certain individuals are born with a genetic risk for addiction. They may choose to start using drugs, but once they become “hooked” they can no longer voluntarily control drug use.

We need better ways to teach our young people how to avoid starting to use drugs in the first place, especially to those who have a family history of alcohol or drug problems.

We need to learn how to identify the disease of addiction early and treat it before it ruins lives in the same way we screen for diabetes with blood sugar test or how test are used to detect cancer in its early, treatable stages.

We need better ways to treat full-blown addiction.

We don't  have  red dresses, pink ribbons, or yellow wrist band movement for addiction (yet) that will produce a better way, but we as a society can do this just like we have battled polio, heart disease and certain cancers.

We hope by sharing this blog we will offer easy access to information  and links for someone in the WNY area to find the help they need. We encourage you to click through the pages at the top of our blog, and learn more about the opiod epidemic that is killing our children, and how we -- by all working together -- can stop it.