Victims, Officials Warn Parents and Teens of Pill Dangers

Orange County has the second-highest death rate in the nation for prescription pill overdose deaths among those aged 15 to 24.

And according to filmmaker Christine Brandt -- herself a mother -- these victims are kids on the football team, cheerleading squad and student government.

Brandt and bereaved mother Jodi Barber created the film Overtaken which was screened at the San Clemente High School Auditorium Tuesday night.

Speaking during the program, attended by a couple hundred students and parents, was Dr. Robert Winkour, medical director for Mission Hospitals; Lt. John Coppock, chief of San Clemente Police Services; and Aisha Armer, an overdose survivor who still has physical and speech difficulties two years into her recovery.

"I felt like I was trapped in my lifeless body," Armer said in halting speech, describing when she woke up after a two-month coma.

Armer overdosed from one pill at a rave and is still recovering.

Affecting many has grown to overtake car accidents as the nation's leading cause of death for young adults. If that wasn't enough, are prescribing sufficient addictive prescription painkillers to medicate every individual American 24 hours a day for one month. 

Many readers may know the names Nolan Smith, Riley Russo, Ryan Winter, and John MiGinley. These are all young adults that have gone to south Orange County high schools and died from overdosing on these powerful drugs.

Jodi Barber, the mother of the late Jarod and 17-year-old Blake, a current Aliso Niguel student, has begun to fight back against this epidemic.

She urges readers to visit her website at oncechoicecandestroy.com.

"Learn about the problem, get involved by talking to your kids, and learn the signs of drug use so you and your children can avoid the terrible ending that too many of our other beautiful sons and daughters have endured," Barber said when the film showed at Aliso Niguel High School last month.