Feb. 23, 2000

Thousands of Utah families are affected every year by drug addiction. But one family has a particularly dramatic story to tell.

It's about two sons who took different paths to pay for their crimes. It's a story that may contain a larger lesson for society, about how we wage the war on drugs.

News Specialist Carole Mikita has details.

This family will shatter your view of drug addicts.

They have given us permission to say they have lived in Davis County for 18 years, are members of the LDS Church, three sons are returned missionaries, two later became addicted to heroin.

Their different experiences in the system have made their mother a crusader to help her children and maybe yours.

Aleta knows what it's like to nearly lose two of her children to drugs.

Aleta: "TO HAVE BEN HAVE HIS PROBLEMS, IT WAS JUST A REALLY TRAUMATIC THING FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY AND WE WERE COMPLETELY UNAWARE OF SAM'S PROBLEMS."

Ben and Sam started with prescription medications following surgeries and they say it wasn't very difficult to find the illegal stuff and move up the drug ladder to heroin. One brother followed the other.

Ben: "I HAD SO MUCH MORPHINE AND OTHER STUFF, WHICH IS VERY SIMILAR. COURSE IT WAS VERY POWERFUL, ADDICTIVE, ADDICTING. I JUST WENT RIGHT TO THAT REAL EASILY."

Sam: "I FOUND SOME OF THE HEROIN HE HAD LEFT OVER AND I DECIDED I WAS GONNA FIND OUT WHAT THIS BIG THING WAS THAT KEPT HIM COMING BACK TIME AND TIME AGAIN. AND I TRIED IT AND JUST LIKE THE PAIN PILLS, I LIKED IT FROM THE START."

) After his arrests in Salt Lake City, Sam and his mother say they both benefitted from drug court.

Aleta: "I FOUND IT WAS REASSURING TO ME TO SIT IN THE COURTROOM, BECAUSE IT MADE ME FEEL THERE'S HOPE HERE. I LOOKED AROUND. PEOPLE WERE SMILING, IT WAS A WARM, REASSURING, SUPPORTIVE ENVIRONMENT."

Ben just spent the last year in prison because there was no drug court in Davis County and no supervised treatment.

Ben: "IT TAUGHT ME HOW TO BE NEGATIVE. THAT'S BASICALLY.. BUT WE LEARN THROUGH EVERYTHING IN LIFE AND I DID PICK UP SOME GOOD THINGS, YOU KNOW, BUT I PROBABLY WOULD HAVE PICKED UP A LOT MORE THROUGH SOME PROGRAM LIKE DRUG COURT."

Aleta calls the prison system a revolving door with repeat drug offenders who are simply lost. She and her sons support a state-wide drug court and hope the legislature will, as well.

"IT DOESN'T MATTER WHO YOU ARE OR WHAT YOU ARE, IT CAN HAPPEN TO ANYONE."

Both Sam and Ben have hope about their futures. Rep. John Swallow's House Bill 281, which would create a state-wide drug court, is in the Executive Appropriations Committee right now. He's hoping for $5- million but will likely get about $2- million this session.