Pubdate: Wed, 25 Jul 2001
Source: Ogdensburg Journal/Advance News (NY)
Copyright: 2001 St. Lawrence County Newspapers Corp
Contact: Accepts LTEs by mail only! Must be signed with phone number.
Website: http://www.ogd.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/689
Author: Associated Press

FATHER CRUSADES AGAINST DRUG DEALERS AFTER SON OVERDOSES

Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.--It was Super Bowl weekend, and Stevie Steiner was 
celebrating.  The 19 year old had just moved to Florida and had been 
calling his father regularly with news about his electrician's job and his 
plans for the future.

The call Steven Steiner Sr. got Jan. 29 was to tell him his eldest son was 
dead.  And there was more.  The autopsy found OxyContin in his blood, a 
prescription narcotic increasingly abused for a heroin-like high.

Grieving for his son and outraged that no one was arrested for providing 
him with the drug,  Steiner decided to take on the dealers himself, all 
drug dealers.  Steiner launched a Web site for a group he called DAMMADD, 
Dads and Mad Moms Against Drug Dealers.  The group takes anonymous tips 
about drug dealers and manufacturers and passes them on to law enforcement. 
If a tip leads to an arrest and conviction, the group offers a reward, up 
to $1,500 if it's a street-level dealer.  According to the site, there had 
been 64 tips in all since it was launched in May and four arrests as of 
Wednesday morning.

"I have to wake up every morning and see his picture in the living room and 
his urn, and it makes me damn mad," said Steiner, 41, of Tioga Center, 
N.Y.  "That's what gives me the energy.  I'm going to make a difference, 
there's no doubt."   In Broome County, the southern New York community near 
where Steiner lives, about 30 tips have resulted in two arrests.  Broome 
County Sheriff's Detective Vasili Yacalis said the information received 
from Steiner's organization has been credible and more arrests are coming 
based on the tips.

"I can see if the tips continue a lot of people are going to find 
themselves in jail," Yacalis said.  "He's been a tremendous help."

Even Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, the drug linked to Stevie 
Steiner's death, gave DAMMADD a $50,000 grant.  OxyContin, oxycodone, is a 
federally approved painkiller widely prescribed for chronic pain resulting 
from problems such as arthritis or cancer.  One pill is designed to last 12 
hours.
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