Ironically the shame is what hides this too. The Grandma trying to hide her shameful addiction. The part of her family that takes care of her shamefully hiding it from the rest of the family, for fear that they would not be seen as good care takers despite doing their best. The shame of the others that see it but pretend they don't, because they themselves don't want to admit that grandma is an addict. Justifying it away. No, the junkies on the street are different, they chose that life, but grandma is a victim. While yes, there can be people who made those poor choices, if grandma is a victim, then why should it surprise anyone that there are others. Others who are less fortunate, who's children aren't as responsible and loving as you.
My mom died of cancer in her 40's. My mom also died an addict. Two of her sisters also had cancer, found because of her diagnosis. Both became addicts as well. I don't see how they couldn't have. Chemo is rough. It is a long and painful treatment that we _should_ be giving painkillers to those receiving it. But it is shame that makes it difficult for people to get treatment. It is shame that prevents people from even admitting they need treatment in the first place.
The hard truth is that grandma is an addict and she needs to be unashamed of going to the methadone clinic.
Precisely. I grew up in an odd town on Lake Erie. On the coast there were the Cleveland Clinic millionaire surgeons, NFL, MLB, and NBA players. On the west side of town a Ford plant and some low income housing, same income and housing on the east side. Middle bit was mostly solid middle class with a couple small higher income enclaves (CEO of a Berkshire Hathaway division, for instance).
So it was truly, truly all income levels interacting in our public schools (which are pretty highly rated).
I graduated in 2009. Close to 10% of my graduating class (~400), all income levels, died of opioid overdoses or suicide. The shame of talking about our town's problem and wanting keep up appearances killed scores of people.
BBC did a documentary on our town, called Smack in Suburbia, focussed on my age group. 30 minute watch, but, it really drives this point home https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7ynJ5S9c58
All of this tragedy was the direct consequence of shame as public health policy.
