After losing son to heroin overdose, parents on a mission to save lives

Mike and Becky Cannon said their son's road to addiction began when he was just a teen.

"Jonathan started smoking weed when he was about 12, 13, 14-years old, which is not uncommon," Mike Cannon said.

The marijuana progressed into more serious drugs.

"When you look at a heroin addict, it's in every neighborhood," Cannon said. "I don't care how much money you have, how poor you are, how rich you are, what race you are, it goes beyond all of that."

"We just thought it was something you could just say, just stop," Becky Cannon said. "Just say no."

Jonathan Cannon was sober for 78 days when he overdosed and died, his parents said. He was 26.

"We lost a son and we had something that happened within us and we said, 'We gotta stop this’," Mike Cannon said.

With a mission to stop the heroin epidemic, the Cannon's created a nonprofit foundation. In the last two years J Cans has helped almost 200 addicts and their families with recovery.

"We don't want to see another parent have to go through this," Mike Cannon said.

The Cannons have recently partnered with the Wilson Police Department to host open discussions about the challenges their community is facing.