Ohio couple calls out heroin in teen daughter's obituary

MIDDLETOWN, Ohio (AP) — Confronted with the sudden death of their 18-year-old daughter, Fred and Dorothy McIntosh Shuemake made a defiant decision: they would not worry about any finger-pointing, whispers or family stigma.

Scott Gehring, who heads the Sojourner Recovery Services addiction treatment nonprofit in Butler County, praised the Shuemakes' "strength and foresight" to draw attention to heroin's role.

People die of overdoses and it gets swept under a rug, Gehring said.

[...] we as a society are willing to acknowledge that it is here and affecting all of us, we're going to continue to see the death count rise.

Alison, who had been in rehabilitation months earlier for alcohol and marijuana abuse, seemed happy and proud, her parents said.

Before Alison's obituary was published, her mother called her boyfriend's family to let them know of the plan to name heroin in her obituary.