BAYTOWN, Texas—There’s no greater bond than a mother’s love, but no amount of Peggy Hemmenway’s love could save her 21-year-old son, Phillip Ray Cottle, who suffered from cystic fibrosis.

Cottle was given powerful prescription drugs to ease his pain, but Hemmenway says those same drugs became her son’s addiction two years ago.

“He would get Vicodin, Hydrocodone,” said Hemmenway.

She said that her son abused the meds and even mixed several at a time.

Two months ago, Hemmenway says, her son took a powerful mixture and never woke up.

“My daughter said, ‘Mom, where you at?’ I said, ‘I’m right around the corner baby.’  And she said ‘Mom! Mom!’  And I said ‘What?’  And she said, ‘Mom!  He’s gone.'  And I said, ‘No, no,’” said Hemmenway.

But the Baytown mom is not alone in her pain.

Investigators in that area say young people are dying in alarming numbers.

“We had one week where four 20-year-olds all passed away,” said Sgt. Shawn Fischer.

Sgt. Fischer said there have been at least nine similar deaths this year.

All were accidental overdoses and not suicides.

In fact, Sgt. Fischer said, more young people die in Baytown from prescription drugs than car accidents. 

And many of them take a deadly combination of highly addictive pills.

Doctor Jason Powers is with The Right Step, a drug and alcohol rehab center.

“The three most common prescription drugs that are abused are Soma, which is a muscle relaxant, hydrocodone, which is a pain medicine, and Xanax, which is a sedative. And those three are prescribed together very frequently,” said Dr. Powers.

The drugs are often prescribed at Houston pain clinics, or so-called pill mills.

Last year, a former pill mill employee told CBS News those same prescription drugs were handed out like candy.

“In reality, it’s drug dealing,” said the employee, who did not want to be identified.

CBS sent four different people to the clinic, and all were prescribed the drugs even though they didn’t have their medical records and they weren’t given a physical exam.

“It’s pretty disturbing because it’s so dangerous.  And the misconception amongst people, but kids especially, is that they’re prescription pills. They come from a doctor so how bad can they be,” said Dr. Powers.

The clinic CBS News investigated closed its doors, but police say they often just find another place to set up shop. 

If you want to see the aftermath of youth addiction, the Archway Academy near the med center is a best-case scenario.

All 60 high school students are recovering from a drug or alcohol addiction, supporting and encouraging each other in sobriety.

That is the key to a successful recovery, said program coordinator Tammer Malaty. 

“Kids get kids on drugs and kids pull kids away from drugs as well. They get them off drugs too,” said Malaty.

While the school is doing well, there is one problem, said Sasha McLean with Archway Academy.

“We’re maxing out at our 60 student campus here.  So we’re looking at expansion,” she said.

McLean says that it’s all to meet a growing demand. 

The latest information shows that teen girls are more likely to try a Xanax or Vicodin before they ever try marijuana or alcohol.