The Warren Brothers’ Brad Warren is speaking out three months after his son, Sage, died of an accidental drug overdose. In a new post on social media. the singer-songwriter wrote a lengthy tribute to his son, who was only 21 years old when he passed away.

“On May 18th 2020 Michelle and I lost our oldest son Sage to this world. He was 21 years old. We believe with every fiber of our being that he is in Heaven where he belongs and that we will see him again one day,” Brad wrote. “I love this child more than I thought was possible and I miss him every second of every minute of every day.”

Brad, a recovering addict, stressed that Sage died from what he thought was an innocent amount of drugs taken.

“Sage did not die in a tragic accident or of a heart attack,” Brad wrote. “He died of an accidental drug overdose. He bought a small amount of drugs apparently laced with fentanyl, consumed the drugs and died in his sleep … I’m not sure when his struggle with drugs began, but I recognized the addictive behavior when he was around 10. I am a recovering alcoholic and have been sober 15 years so I saw things in Sage early that gave me concern.

“Because of that concern we were very strict on Sage in high school,” he continued. “He excelled in sports as an All Region athlete and he got by academically. He did drink and smoke weed in high school but we usually caught him and tightened the reigns for a while. He was the target of a mean spirited law suit in 10th grade that may have contributed to his addiction but addiction had been a concern for both Michelle and I prior to that.”

After Sage had a DUI in 2017, his parents had him return home to Nashville, after briefly attending East Tennessee State University. In 2019, Sage attended rehab, where things seemed promising for a while, before the coronavirus pandemic made maintaining sobriety especially challenging.

“In 2020 Sage began slipping off the path,” Brad acknowledged. “Because of Covid 19 Sage couldn’t attend those all important 12 step meetings. He attended some zoom meetings with me but did not like them at all. I cautioned him to stay diligent because his disease was doing push ups regardless of a government shutdown. But in the end he started letting go of the things that had brought him life. I knew he had been smoking pot again but had no idea he’d been dabbling with hard drugs as well.

“On May 18 I got the call that keeps every parent awake a few minutes longer every night,” he recounted. “The call you see in movies. The call you know you’re never gonna get but it worries you anyway. The call that makes parents pray a little longer and harder than people without children. I had raised this child for almost 22 years. Strikeouts, Home Runs, A’s and F’s, pride and fear, worry and confidence. I had experienced it all with him. This couldn’t be it. It can’t be over.”

Brad went on to urge people, especially parents, to take addiction seriously, and understand its dangers.

“Addiction is a disease. PARENTS please treat it as such,” Brad urged. “It is a disease that can be a blessing if we surrender it to God and help others in need. But it IS a disease. If your child had cancer you wouldn’t be embarrassed to get him or her treatment. Don’t be embarrassed to ask for help. Share information with other parents. If we as parents don’t tell other parents when we catch their kids drinking and drugging…shame on us. What cowardly behavior.

“We might miss a chance to help a parent save their child’s life,” he added. “Of course not all kids that drink and use are addicts…but give other parents ALL the info and let them decide how to proceed. KIDS..Treat alcohol like a loaded gun and drugs like a ticking time bomb. A loaded gun is not always a bad thing but we must always respect the danger it poses when we don’t respect the damage it’s capable of. Before I got sober I did what Sage did the night he died probably 100 times. I bought drugs from people I didn’t know in places I shouldn’t have been. There was no fentanyl when I was out there. I got 20 years to learn lessons, find God and turn my life around. Sage got one bad night. Remember that.”

Brad also spoke about his faith, and his certainty that Sage is in Heaven, and he will see him again one day, before vowing that both he and his wife would turn Sage’s tragic death into something positive.

“We are not exactly sure how yet, but Michelle and I will be using Sage’s life and death to help others,” he concluded. “We have a call, a mission, something to say. We are not afraid of life or death or what people might think. We are open to whatever is next but only when it honors our son and helps others because that is what he wants. We can feel it. We can feel him. This is not the end..it’s only the beginning.”

Read the entire touching post here.

The Warren Brothers, which includes Brad’s brother Brett, released four albums as a duo, before turning their attention to songwriting. The pair has written some of the biggest hits in country music, including Tim McGraw’s “Highway Don’t Care,” Toby Keith’s “Red Solo Cup,” Dierks Bentley’s “Feel That Fire,” and more.