MADISON, Wis. -- A wake took place on Sunday for a 13-year-old Rock County boy who died of an OxyContin overdose last week.

Now, the boy's family is hoping the memorial service for the boy will be a powerful example about the dangers of drug abuse. The boy's mother, Jenny Bethel allowed cameras in to Sunday's service in the hope of educating other young people about the dangers of OxyContin, a prescription painkiller that many consider a gateway drug to heroin.

The funeral for Alex Aiken is scheduled for Monday, less than a week after Bethel said she found her son dead at 7 a.m. Tuesday in their Town of Milton home. An hour later, the boy's 13-year-old friend was hospitalized after reportedly suffering an overdose.

Last week, Bethel told the Janesville Gazette that she told the Edgerton Middle School seventh-graders to go to bed at 10:30 p.m. on Monday. She had no idea her son's friend apparently gave him OxyContin after school. She said her son wasn't addicted to drugs.

Seventh-grader Brandy Mastin, 12, remembers her classmate and friend.

"If you need someone to talk to, he was always there for you," she said.

The 13-year-old's death has left many baffled.

"I think peer pressure because I don't think he'd just go off and do this by himself," said Brianna Freed, 13.

Craig Barnekow, a clinical supervisor at the University of Wisconsin Health's Gateway Recovery, said that these kinds of situations can be common.

"I think there is some peer pressure, but I think kids are looking to belong, looking to experiment and will try things," he said.

He said that children and teens don't have to go far to find their next high.

"People may be prescribed 20 pills and they use two and there's 18 sitting there and part of the problem is kids and adolescents have easy access," he said.

Barnekow said that easy access to OxyContin can turn anyone to an addict, and then to other opiates.

"If you're using OxyContin and physically dependant on that, you're also physically dependant and heroin does the same thing so they move from drug to drug to drug based on accessibility," he said.

OxyContin is an easy-to-get drug that can end in tragedy.

"If a child uses an adult amount, what an adult is normally prescribed it can be very lethal," Barnekow said.

This experience is one the Aikens' family and friends are willing to share in the hope of avoiding another life lost far too soon.

"I think it's going to help because people don't want to die like this," said Mastin.

Barnekow said his advice to parents is to follow the doctor's instructions for prescription medicine and to store their pills in a safe place.

No arrests have been made so far in the investigation into Aikens' death, WISC-TV reported.