By Erin Smith
A telephone call from Horry County, SC on a Saturday morning in February drastically changed the lives of Doyle and Joyce Owen of White Oak forever.
Doyle Owen said he and his granddaughter were at Cain’s Grill in White Oak when someone approached him. Owen said his granddaughter was eating breakfast when he was handed a slip of paper with a telephone number on it and told he needed to call it immediately. Owen said someone sat with his granddaughter while he stepped out to make the telephone call.
“I knew when I made the phone call,” said Owen.
He said the telephone number was to the Horry County, SC Coroner’s office. Owen said he asked the person who answered on the other end if this was about his son, Brandon Owen, and the reply was, “Yes.”
“They told me they had found him that morning with the needle still clenched in his hand,” said Owen.
He said Brandon had five times the legal amount of heroin in his system.
Doyle Owen said it is hard to put into words what it was like to watch Brandon struggle with his addiction.
“It’s hard to put into words. It’s something you don’t want to see anyone go through.” said Owen.
Brandon was a “a good kid” growing up but he fell into the wrong crowd at school. Owen said Brandon began experimenting with marijuana when he was 16 years old and his addiction grew from there.
“He progressed to Cocaine then to the pills then to heroin,” said Owen.
As with many addicts, Owen said his son tried desperately to regain his sobriety. He estimated that over a ten year period, Brandon attended between 18 to 20 different rehab programs at a cost of more than $140,000 total. Doyle Owen said some drug treatment programs cost as much as $500 per week for treatment.
“He would get out of rehab and come home. He wouldn’t be here for 30 days and he was right back (to his old ways),” said Owen.
Doyle Owen said he owns a construction company and Brandon worked for him.
“I could monitor him and I could see how he was doing,” said Owen.
On the Thursday before that fateful weekend, Doyle Owen said Brandon seemed anxious and he asked him if he was okay. Doyle said Brandon said, “Yes.” Then on Saturday, February 11, 2017, he got the dreadful news about his son.
He said that Brandon didn’t want to live his life as an addict.
“He told us many times he didn’t want to be like that,” said Owen. “He was a good boy. He just got on the wrong path.”
As a parent, Doyle Owen said watching Brandon fight his addiction had an impact not just on Brandon, but on the family as well.
“It makes you feel like you didn’t do something right (as a parent),” said Owen.
Brandon’s mother, Joyce, was deeply impacted as well. He said he will often find her up late at night looking at photo albums of Brandon.
He added that parents who have a child battling addiction should never give up. Owen said, instead, parents should try to seek treatment for their child and, if one program doesn’t work, don’t give up.
“There is always hope. If they (the addict) want it to change, it can change. My son did not want to be an addict,” said Owen.
He said heroin and opioids are strong drugs and it can be hard for an addict to break their habit.
Owen and his wife, Joyce, have taken their tragedy and turned it into a positive one by reaching out to other parents who have children struggling with addiction and by sharing their own story with others.
Owen was recently named to the NC Parents Coalition for CHANGE as the Chairman for District 13. He said he was approached by NC Parents Coalition for CHANGE’s Alisha Roberts, who lost her own daughter to addiction.
“I got involved with the group because I wanted to make a change and they needed a voice,” said Owen.
He said the coalition is trying to put laws and/or procedures in place whereby a first time offender can get a deferred a prosecution and instead receive mandatory drug treatment rather than a jail sentence.
Owen said often people who are addicted to opioids or heroin go to jail and detox there. He said it can be a difficult thing to watch someone going through detox because they experience physical pain. He also said when they are in jail, the coalition would like to see them getting counseling to help get the process of treatment started.
Owen also said rehab centers need to be readily available. He said currently, if someone wants to go to rehab, they must call the rehab center themselves and, often, there is a waiting period before there is a bed available.
Owen also said he would like to see stiffer penalties for the drug dealers. He said they prey on the addicts.
“The dealers know what they are doing. It’s all about the money to them,” said Owen.
He said he would like to see first time offenders with addictions receive a mandatory two year stint in a rehab facility. Owen said if the person does not complete the requirements or if they resume their drug of choice, then they receive a jail sentence.
“We’ve got to start somewhere,” said Owen. He said his goal is to see the addicts become a functional part of society again.
“These kids are going to prison and getting felony convictions. They deserve at least one chance,” said Owen.
Many people don’t realize that once a person has a felony conviction, that record follows them throughout their life and can impact their eligibility for employment and certain types of government aid.
The next Bladen County Opioid Forum is today (Tuesday, October 23rd) at 2 p.m. at the Bladen County Health Department.
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