THE LAST WORD 09-08-15

THE LAST WORD

When Alison Shuemake, 18, died in August, her obituary revealed a cause of death that would make most people’s eyes travel to their feet: heroin overdose. Usually, the cause of death for young people who overdose on drugs is kept quiet out of respect, but Shuemake’s family broke that pattern to share a message that went viral. Faced with a sharp rise in heroin use across the United States that’s deeply impacting millennials, Shuemake’s mother used her daughter’s obituary to make a bold statement: Stop covering up issues plaguing young people so we can start talking about them.