Branden Metzo grew up eating with his family at the dinner table seven days a week.

His parents, Theresa and Mark, were there at every turn in his life. Theresa said they did “all the things parents are supposed to do.”

Despite his upbringing, Branden, like so many others, fell prey to a danger that exists in many communities.

For the last three months of his life, Branden was no longer the 20-year-old his family and friends knew. Heroin had taken him away from them, months before his death.

“Once the drugs took him, he was a stranger to us,” Mark said.

He said Branden’s life spun out of control quickly. His son was using heroin for just a few months when he overdosed and died Aug. 21.

As parents, Mark and Theresa intervened as soon as they noticed Branden was using drugs, sending him to rehabilitation three times.

They even called the police on their son. After trying everything they could, they thought imprisonment would have helped him.

“Just take him to jail to save his life,” Mark remembers saying.

via Parents reach out to those battling drug addiction – News – Citizens Voice.