Overdose Victim’s Father Offers Tips for Parents

Manda Spitler was 20 when she overdosed on heroin in 2002
Manda Spitler was 20 when she overdosed on heroin in 2002

The war on drugs begins at home. That’s the message a Valparaiso man whose 20-year-old daughter died of a heroin overdose in 2002 shared with a group of community members yesterday in Marshall County. Mann Spitler III became a certified prevention professional and discontinued his podiatry practice in 2006. Manna was his only child. He says she succumbed to peer pressure as a teenager and started using heroin. Spitler urges parents to take note of changes in their child’s appearance. He says bloodshot eyes, contracted or dilated pupils are signs of opiate use. Cocaine can also cause pupils to dilate. So can marijuana, but the whites of the eyes will be bloodshot as well. Continue reading