Jarrod B.

By Jarrod's mom, Jodi

Jarrod Paul Barber

I lost my beautiful son on 1/8/10 from an overdose. One doctor prescribed thousands of pills such as Norco, Vicodin, Oxycontin, Xanax, and Oxymorphone to his friends if they had cash, while another doctor overprescribed more pills to end his cravings to Oxymorphone (Opana) and marijuana. The cravings to opioids began when Jarrod was almost 17 and broke his collarbone. The nurse gave him Vicodin.

Jarrod loved family and was a very protective older brother to Blake. They were 4 years apart. Jarrod taught Blake how to throw a baseball, swim, snorkel, etc., and told him to never touch drugs. Jarrod had the most piercing blue eyes and his laugh was contagious. He had many friends, but family meant the most. Sadly the last couple years of Jarrod's life, his friends seemed more important and now I understand why. He craved his fix. If he was on a family outing too long, Jarrod would get agitated. If I knew then, what I know now, maybe my son would be here today.

At age 19, my husband and I found Jarrod on our couch in a drug induced coma. He passed away 47 minutes later at the hospital he was born. Two weeks later, his close friend died with a needle in his arm. His parents found him in the bathroom. He was in the Army for two years.

Six months after Jarrod died, I heard of another friend who died, and 11 months later another close friend from one Opana pill. I heard more and more that year and realized something needed to be done. I made a poster with faces of 21 kids who died and placed in business windows. The calls were rolling in. I exposed the doctors on the news and in the newspaper. I became an advocate and produced two short documentaries. Overtaken and Overtaken 2 can be viewed on YouTube. Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4VpCTRPMx0#action=share

To learn more, log onto my website: www.overtakenlives.org