Chicago-born Deb Mobley was reared in a devoutly Baptist home. So from an early age, she was taught to turn the other cheek. But the sinister power of OxyContin changed this life-long Christian into a brawler, who sucker-punched her sister and tangled with her ex-Marine husband as she battled the drug's addiction.

"I am a Christian person and have always held my temper," Mobley said. "But with OxyContin, I was a crazy person."

Troubles began when she sought doctor's help for severe headaches

Mobley suffered from horrible headaches in 2000 after the birth of her first daughter. Her physician prescribed Darvocet. He later switched her to OxyContin. "He told me there was a drug called OxyContin," Mobley recalled of that fateful visit to her physician in 2001.

"He said it was a wonder drug. He said it was time-released and non-addictive. He just could not say enough about it."

An all-too-familiar pattern of steadily increasing tolerance and addiction

The doctor increased the prescription to 20mg, twice a day within a matter of months. After six months on OxyContin, Mobley knew she was in trouble.

"I knew I was hooked because I was angry all the time," she said. "My husband said I was getting difficult to live with."

Mobley constantly watched the clock inside her home, waiting for the hours to pass so she could break into the OxyContin and down her next dose.

"It may sound strange, but you won't leave the house without OxyContin," she said. "You check your purse five times a day to make sure you have the bottle. You are depressed because you know you need the stuff. It messes with your head."

Troubling personality changes

Her addiction got so bad that Mobley lashed out at her sister when an Oxy anger flash kicked in. The sudden outburst occurred in the Spring of 2002, while Mobley helped manage her sister's office.

"We were in the office together," Mobley recalled. "I was missing a lot of work because of the grogginess from the OxyContin. And when I messed something up, she'd ask what was wrong. Finally, I just had enough. I said, 'screw you.'

When she asked me not to talk like that, I hauled off and punched her in the mouth. I nearly knocked out her teeth."

Mobley was fired and had to beg for her job back months later. By September 2002, she was up to two 40mg of Oxy every eight hours. Again, she was fighting mad.

"My husband and I got into an argument. I found him holding my pills over the toilet. He said they were destroying us. I was afraid he'd flush them. I said, 'who do you think you are? Give me those pills.'

"When he walked out of the bathroom, I hauled off and punched him in the face, knocking off his glasses." Her husband threatened to call the cops, but she made pre-emptive strike. She called the police and blamed him for belting her.

The cops came and wrote out a warrant for her husband's arrest. By then, Mr. Mobley had taken off to live with an aunt in a nearby town. He stayed away for three months, until a family pastor and family counselor convinced the authorities to drop all charges. "I told the police to drop it, but they did not listen to me," she said. "I felt horrible. I could have ruined my husband's life."

Overlooking the warning signs of addiction, her doctor advises her to stay on OxyContin

Her pastor told Mobley to cut back on the Oxy. "I asked my doctor to get me off this, but he said I had to stay on them," she said. "I did not want to tell him the truth, because I feared he'd take me off OxyContin altogether. I thought he'd throw me to the wolves."

Mobley's breaking point with OxyContin came in March of 2003 when she learned she was pregnant with a second daughter. She was not thrilled with the news.

"I was hysterical," she began. "I had been taking this medication and thought my baby would be addicted. I thought about having an abortion, because I thought the baby would be deformed. My mind was gone."

While pregnant, she is forced to endure "cold turkey" withdrawal

Her OB-GYN told her to get off the stuff. He cut her supply to 25 pills. Once they were gone, Mobley would have to figure out a rehab plan. She went two days without Oxy in April of 2003. The withdrawals nearly destroyed her.

"All I did was curl up on a fetal position," she said. "I cried and screamed. It feels like someone was taking my muscles and tearing them apart. Every bone in my body felt like it was breaking. I shook and convulsed so much that my husband thought I'd lose the baby.

"I wanted to commit suicide, big time," Mobley added. "I did not think I could live without OxyContin. The only thing that stopped me was my daughter and my unborn baby."

Mobley finally signed up at a methadone clinic later that month. Physicians at the Piedmont Treatment Center in nearby Greenville told her Oxy addiction was worse than being on heroin.

Despite her efforts to conquer OxyContin, her baby is born afflicted

She gave birth to her second daughter in late September 2003. The child was born addicted to methadone and was kept in the hospital for 10 days as doctors dealt with the infant's drug dependency.

Young Morgan Mobley survived the addiction, but was born with vision problems. Her optic nerve failed to fully develop. The family fears she can only see shadows and may never recover.

"No one knows why that happened," Mobley said. "They can't say it is related to OxyContin. But there is no history of this in my family or husband's family."

Today, Mobley still takes methadone to break her Oxy craving. Meanwhile, her life is overloaded with guilt. "When I look at my daughter, I cry," she said, fighting off tears. "All I can do is pray and hope for the best. But I don't have a great outlook."

If given a chance to talk about OxyContin, Mobley would sound the alarm. "This medication should be banned for anyone except someone who is fatally ill with cancer or AIDS," she said. "Something so strong and addictive is not right. How many lives must be ruined before that truth comes out?"