Anyone who has lost a loved one through drugs knows that society treats that death in a much different manner than a death from any other cause. There is the unspoken feeling that the individual who succumbed to drugs must have somehow been less than a good person. And for the person who has survived, surely they too must have somehow been a failure, for "letting this occur." Why were they not strong enough to stop this from happening? You were, they feel, in whatever way, partially a factor in the demise of the person you grieve.
Anyone who has gone through the anguish of losing a loved one through drugs knows the feeling. Just the loss of that person is devastating enough. But coupled with friends and associates who, try as they might not to, look at you in a different way and, you're sure, thinking less of you for what happened, make it nearly impossible to cope. Above all, they do not want to discuss it with you, feeling inadequate to really comprehend what you're going through.
But where to turn? Society has grieving groups for when a child has died from illness, accident, suicide or even murder. They have similar groups for those whose family member "- parent, sibling, spouse or partner," has passed on through disease or accident. But, oddly, there is little help available for those who have lost that special person through a misuse of drugs.
GRASP was created to offer a single source to people in this specific group, those who have lost a child, parent, spouse, partner or sibling through drugs. GRASP offers resources of many types. You're invited to explore our menu. Somewhere you will find a thought, a page, a suggestion, book or a direction, to help give you encouragement and a path in the days ahead.
