A Young Life Lost to Prescription Drug Abuse

In 2006, when he was 17, Harrison Neal of Tulsa, Okla., died in his sleep after knowingly ingesting prescription drugs meant for someone else.

"We're a very typical middle-class family from Tulsa," his father, Gary Neal, said. "And Harrison was a good kid. . . . He had a 3.5 grade average, a beautiful girlfriend, tons of very good friends, and he enjoyed all the normal kid stuff. "

But Harrison Neal was also addicted to prescription drugs, a fact that was well-known to his family, who supported him in his struggle to overcome that addiction.

On the evening before Thanksgiving, after an afternoon spent deer hunting with his dad, Harrison went out with friends.

"He had a couple of drinks, took some prescription drugs, and some over-the-counter cold medicine he was taking for a cold he was fighting," Gary Neal said quietly and slowly. "And then he went to ...