Drug use, addiction and death: School forum tackles tough topics

In front of a crowd of more than 100 people Tuesday night, Samantha Lewandowski, 14, recalled the sad details of her father's final years after he became addicted to OxyContin.

"You took me away from him when I needed him," Samantha said, reading a letter she had written to the drug. "Dad never played with me anymore. You made him look like a monster. Why was he mad at me? Didn't he love me anymore? I didn't even get to say goodbye."

A Whitman resident, Lewandowski said her father would not be there when she gets her driver's license in a few years, to watch her go to the prom, to see her graduate from high school or to walk her down the aisle on her wedding day.

Samantha's father passed away in 2003 when he was just 32 years old. He had been prescribed the painkiller after a shoulder injury and was unable to give it up after his recovery.