OxyContin changed Ernesto Williams from the kind of man who runs towns, to the type of person locals want to run out of town.

Life before OxyContin

Williams, a native of Falfurrias, Texas, a hamlet 80 miles from Corpus Cristi, had virtually held the key to the city all his life. He was a track star in high school. The 200-meter relay team he headed in the 1960s still holds the school record. He was leader throughout his school years, and served as a student body president in his youth.

Little wonder that Williams would gravitate toward local politics. After stints with the Brooks County Fair Buyers Syndicate, a charity fair, and work with 4-H boosters. He eyed public office. He became town mayor in the early 1990s and won re-election in 1995 with 80 percent of the vote.

His administration's top achievement involved securing an important highway project that kept the boundaries of Interstate 69 at the edge of town. Had the road gone elsewhere, as the Texas Highway Department once wanted, Falfurrias would have dried up and blown away.

"We convinced the highway department to put the road where we wanted it," Williams said. "And that brought all kinds of business to town. Had they moved the highway, that would have been the end of the community."

Troubles began with injury on the job

Little did locals know that their popular politician would soon be neck deep in OxyContin worries. His road to perdition began with a simple slip and fall accident at work.

When the accident occurred in 1995, Williams had served in different capacities for Mobil Oil. He'd been a roustabout, and an efficiency expert on machinery during 20 years with the company.

He took a header while overseeing a shutdown operation at a gas plant. "During shutdowns there are all kinds of things on the ground; it's all over the place," he explained. "I slipped and fell. A big fall. Hurt my back and wrist."

The condition got worse and he underwent back surgery in 1997. But the pain continued. Pain managers entered the picture and a litany of prescriptions followed. They even recommended he get a morphine pump installed to deliver a steady stream of the opiate. But Williams rejected the notion.

"I told them that is not the way I wanted to go," he said. "That [morphine] was highly addictive. So I asked for another option."

Williams' doctor believed that OxyContin was safe

His physician recommended OxyContin. He said the drug would not lead to addiction, according to Williams. "When you are in a lot of pain you will do anything to get rid of it," Williams said.

OxyContin took him to another reality. "I felt like I was on cloud nine," he said. "It was like I was in a bubble. Like you are floating on air. I had always preached against drugs. I never got involved with them in my life. Always told the kids in little league to stay away from drugs, yet there I was."

Under OxyContin, dramatic personality changes

As with other Oxy sufferers, Williams isolated himself. The one-time community leader, hid from everyone, even his three children and two grand children. "I did not want to visit people," he said. "I did not want to visit anyone. I did not attend family gatherings. I did not open Christmas presents. I was pissed off all the time and just wanted to be left alone."

As time when on, he craved OxyContin. The hunger led to domestic violence, and later revelation. "I got into a fight with my wife, because she would not give the drug to me," he said. "By 2002, I knew something was wrong. I was highly withdrawn from my family. I was gone, like I did not exist. I was a totally different person."

Persistent suicidal thougthts, violent moods

He considered suicide and searched his home for a weapon. "I had two pistols in my house," he said. "I had given one to a friend and went looking for the other. Luckily, I found out my wife had sold it. I think she knew that I might use it."

Four months later, the Oxy craze pushed him too far. He lashed out at his wife, shoving her to the ground. "When I pushed my wife and saw her on the floor, I knew that was not right. So I started going to church and praying and I asked for help from God. I started praying every day. I'd go every day to pray for an hour or two. Asking god to help me."

He next sought help from an addiction specialist in Corpus Cristi. He began treatment in October of 2003. Seven days of detox helped him see the light. "Oh, man, that was hard," he said of the detox. "You walk around all day like a zombie. I was the mayor and here I was in this kind of shape."

He dreamed of suicide, of people chasing him, of his hand reaching for a gun. The detox held and Williams slowly recovered his soul. "I just woke up," he explained. "First thing I did was to hug my wife and kids and decided to never take this medication again."

Like so many others that have fall into OxyContin's web, Williams knew very little about the opiate. He just trusted his doctor. "I did not know anything about it at first," he said. "To me it was just a medication prescribed by the doctor. Now I have learned that it is highly addictive and called 'hillbilly heroin.' It's a dangerous drug."

Today Williams has a positive outlook. He is back with his family and there is talk of another run for mayor. "Now my life is lively," he said. "I communicate with my family. They tell me I look great. I talk to people now. And when they ask where I have been, I just say that I've been laying low."