By Donna D. May of mumsDU, first shared on twitter @donnadmay October 21, 2019

It hurt my heart to hear the grieving mother righteously declare, “My child was nothing like yours. My child was not an addict,” as if the loss of a child can somehow be deemed better or worse by the manner of their death.

I took exception to the mother who stood to say, “My child was nothing like yours. My child’s drugs were prescribed,” even though she knew they weren’t being taken for what they were prescribed for.

Or the mother who claimed, “My child was nothing like yours. My child never had to live on the streets, steal or sell their body to survive,” as though it could never have happened to them.

Then there was the mother whose child overdosed on drugs laced with synthetic analogs who cried, “My child was nothing like yours. My child was poisoned. He didn’t deserve to die this way.”

If only the manner of death could be declared as, ‘societal ignorance and the systemic unwillingness to learn the truths about why people use substances.

If only the stigma we dispense on each other, even in our grief, could die at the same rate our children are dying, I could perhaps find some purpose to this carnage. PERHAPS.

If only 'JUST SAY NO' worked, because mothers, I do believe that no child - not yours and not mine - deserved to die this way. Mothers, stand in unity to end the Opioid Death Epidemic!