People are dying statewide from tainted pain killers. First, the pills are illegally manufactured to look like legitimate pain pills. Next, they contain a drug that should be administered via a patch through the skin.

I hate to say anyone dumb enough to buy a pill from a street-level drug dealer and ingest it has it coming, but anyone dumb enough to buy a pill from a street-level drug dealer and ingest it has it coming.

Then we have the Tiger Woods traffic episode — Part II. The celebrity golfer was in a traffic mishap and appeared to be drunk. He tested negative for alcohol but was under the influence of a pain killer. He was charged with being an impaired driver.

When my left arthritic knee went out in an excruciatingly painful manner three weeks ago, my physician prescribed two heavy-duty pain killers. His physician’s assistant said to take one at night and the other during the day. Then an attorney acquaintance told me he represented a woman who was charged with impaired driving while taking the pain killer I was told to take during the day.

Since it is a controlled substance, I guess I should have known it could be a problem. The prescription bottle has yellow stickers that say the drug might cause drowsiness and warn the user not to operate machinery while taking the medication.

Before being informed I might be flirting with being an impaired driver, a co-worker had been my passenger a couple of times. I asked if I drove erratically. No, he said. I asked other co-workers if my words were slurred or if my pupils were dilated. Negative on both counts.

The nighttime pain killer that should lull me into a pain-free state and put me to sleep kept me up all night the one night I took it. I lay awake and looked at the ceiling above my bed, then read, then watched television, then repeated the activity until shorty before dawn. I am told the drug has an opposite effect on me than what it should have.

The daytime pain killers are being taken at bedtime. Over-the-counter pain killers are taken by day.

The arthritic knee got better and by the time I returned for a two-week checkup recently, I was practically dancing a jig. Just in case, the daytime pain killer prescription was renewed. That very night the knee went out again with a bang. I was unable to move for a while, but finally stood up and made my way to the heavy-duty nighttime pain killer. Being awake all night would be the least of my worries.

Writing as many drug stories as I do and having known people who became addicted to prescription pain killers, I am acutely aware of what drug addiction does to individuals and their families. The addict becomes a self-centered monster who lives for his next fix, and those around him or her die a little every day. Hearts are broken, careers are ruined, families are torn apart. The addict’s death is not an unusual end to the tragic story.

My father had a dear friend with a lovely wife and children who lived in a town near my hometown of Colquitt, Georgia. The children were mine and my brother’s ages. Our parents had a lot in common and enjoyed doing things together. The family lived in one of the most beautiful houses in the little Southwest Georgia town. It was gorgeous inside and out. The handsome father always drove a big, beautiful automobile.

I eventually left home and later learned the father of the family had become addicted to drugs and lost everything. His family scattered. One day a friend and I were in the little town where the man lived. I saw a deathly thin, stooped man with long, dirty, snow-white hair hobbling along on the sidewalk. I asked my friend who the man was. It was my father’s friend, the successful, handsome family man. He was a morphine addict.

This picture has stayed with me for 50 years. The beautiful house reached such a state of disrepair that it was bulldozed. My memories of this delightful family have not diminished through the years. What a drug addiction did to them is a lesson I learned early and will never forget.

Today, drug addiction seems to be commonplace. It’s wrath has not changed. It ruins lives. Those who love the addict suffer a dreadful fate.

Surgery to replace my painful knee would stop my need for pain killers. For drug addicts, it is not so simple.