Who am I ? My name is Lance Merrill. I am the father of 5 children. On September 30th of 2006 I had a dream that my sweet daughter Jani had died. Jani had walked out of a Salt Lake rehab center two days earlier. I knew the dream was a goodbye from my beautiful daughter. It took a day for her body to turn up and go through the legal process of being declared dead. After 19 short years she had lost her battle with addiction for now.
As we walked out of LDS hospital I looked at my wife and told her that I was going to start an organization to help other people fight the battle addiction. The abbreviation of DADD for Dads Against Drug Dealers seemed to describe how I felt. Jani had taken a fatal plunge into drugs. It was a short trip for her from a few pills to snorting, then shooting Heroin.
I had realized Jani was involved with drugs the winter before. I took her to a job site in my truck and talked with her for hours. I told her I knew that she was using, and I felt it was opiates, because of her behavior. She finally confirmed my worst fear, Heroin! We tried out patient treatment, with no luck. We were going to start her on a Monday in May in a full time facility in S.L.C. Sunday night she used in our home for the first time, and over dosed. She almost died. While I took her to the hospital my youngest daughter got into her cell phone and found 37 calls and text message from her dealer. He had thrown heroin and a needle through her 2nd story bedroom window Sunday night.
I called the Provo Police Dept. with his: name, address, license #, phone #s, and vehicle description. I assumed they would arrest or at least investigate him. After weeks of follow up calls I offered to give them signed statements from 3 other kids he had sold heroin to. Their only response was to warn me the 3 signing would probably get arrested. I was shocked at the fact that the Provo Police were scared to do anything about drugs in my city.
I went up the ladder to the Utah County Task force and worked with the officers in charge of drug arrests. They knew the dealer, he even had 3 outstanding felony warrants. But they just couldn't seem to make the arrest. 3 months later I put up a bounty of $500 cash out of my pocket for the person who gave the information that would lead to his arrest. 3 hours after publicizing the bounty I got a call from a friend who was helping me with the quest, Chris Cartwright was in custody.
Anyone who has tried to turn in someone who is obviously dealing drugs has probably run into the same experience. Especially in Happy Valley. DADDs has been built in an attempt to help others who are struggling with addiction, both as addicts or those who love them. We are a non profit organization dedicated to helping others beat some of the pitfalls that will come when they follow the advice of rehab professionals or law enforcement. If we could all work together we could help stem the tide of rampant drug abuse growing in our communities. I welcome the help of anyone who honestly wants to join the fight. We will continue to provide connections to those we believe are involved in the battle by passion not profit.
