Sobering Picture Highlights Drug Overdoses

“Sobering Picture highlights drug overdoses” isn’t what most people expect to see when they are scrolling through their Facebook feed, but maybe it should be. We all know or have known someone with a problem and hundreds of people die daily at the hands of their addictions. Absolutely no one is exempt from this unfortunate truth. Children lose their parents and parents lose their children each and every day. It is heart wrenching and tragic and yet it still occurs with frightening regularity. When you lose someone unexpectedly, especially to something like addiction, it is very easy to blame yourself. You often ask yourself questions like, “Why didn’t I see the signs?” or “What could I have done differently to keep this from happening?” It is something you will grapple with for the rest of your life attempting to make heads or tails of it.

When tragedy struck too close to home and claimed the life of Mike Stollings’ son Jeramie Ratliff, he took his grief and channeled it into making a difference. Jeramie had problems with drugs for quite a while. Jeramie struggled with a known and open “relationship” with LSD. What his father did not know is that he also used Dextromethorphan (found in over the counter cough syrup) and this is ultimately what killed him. To help deal with his grief and hopefully reach others in the process, he took a picture of his son in the morgue and posted it on social media. This sobering picture highlights drug overdoses. It isn’t pretty or glamorous; it is sad and frightening and truthful. What he did is certainly not traditional and many find it morbid, but its purpose is to elicit a guttural reaction. It isn’t everyday that you scroll through Facebook looking for these types of images. It is meant to sicken and mortify. Its purpose is to show that this can happen to anyone, at any age, at any time. Its objective is to be life saving by highlighting that what may seem harmless can easily become detrimental. Often times recreational drug use starts off as a great time and feeling good; but can quickly change to something more sinister and dangerous. The somber photo is meant to illustrate this point and has been shared more than 34,000 times hopefully changing lives in the process. Not only did Mike lose his son, Jeramie left his son behind. Jeramie had just had a baby boy before he died. Mike Stollings intention is for people either in this situation or dealing with someone in this situation to get the help they need at once so if you or anyone you know is dealing with an addiction, please contact a us immediately. Get the help you need before it is too late.