Eric R. Venetucci Obituary -

What a truly tragic thing it is for a parent to write an obituary for a child who has just died. As parents of a son battling addiction, we knew full well that the time might come when we would have to sit down and perform this gut-wrenching task. That awful time has arrived. So, we sadly dedicated ourselves to writing our son's final farewell with intermixed feelings of shock, grief, anger, appreciation and hope.

A "tragedy" is loosely defined as when something bad happens to a good person. Sometime in the early morning hours of November 6th, 2018, Eric Venetucci died quietly of an accidental opiate overdose in the bedroom of his father's home at the age of 23. Shortly after his sudden death, we shared the terrible news and were soon awash in an outpouring of grief, condolences and comforting words from shocked and saddened family, friends and others who knew Eric through the substance abuse prevention community. Eric was an articulate, dynamic, intelligent, loyal, playful, sensitive and intellectually spirited young man. All of the supportive feedback we received subsequent to his death confirmed that Eric was also a good person. And that, yes, Eric's sudden death is a tragedy of immense proportions to those who knew and loved him.

Eric died despite our best efforts as parents to support our son in his battle with addiction. Eric died despite the professional efforts of dozens of talented substance abuse clinicians with whom Eric was fortunate enough to interface with since his early teens, each one attempting to somehow intervene in Eric's torturous, recurrent cycle of relapse & recovery since he began abusing opioids around age 18. Eric died despite his own valiant and persistently courageous efforts to tame his addiction demons. But, in the end, the demons won and Eric lost his battle. We have lost our beloved son; however, his tormenting demons have now relented and our special boy is finally at peace. We will miss Eric so very much.

In addition to our grief, it's natural that anger also emerges for those impacted by Eric's tragic death when we consider what his death means in the bigger issue of this country's opioid crisis. In 2017, for example, over 72,000 individuals — mostly young adults such as Eric — died in the U.S. from drug overdoses. The vast majority of those deaths were the result of heroin or synthetic opioids such as Fentanyl. We suspect the final toxicology reports will show that Eric died from a lethal mix of heroin and Fentanyl that he purchased easily and cheaply on Chicago's west side earlier on the day Eric experienced his fatal overdose. The same week that Eric passed away, news emerged that the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) had just given approval of a new synthetic opioid estimated to be at least 10 times more powerful than Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid already 50 times more powerful than heroin. Recent history sadly demonstrates that the availability of any new powerful opioid will quickly result in rampant misuse and more overdose deaths. Bewilderment. Disgust. Anger.

As our shock and grief begin to subside — which we know will occur over time — we will embrace appreciation and hope. Along with Eric's beloved sister Alyssa, we are deeply appreciative and humbled by the love and support our family has received since sharing the sad news of Eric's death. The heartfelt affirmations of how much our son was loved and valued are a truly priceless gift for which we will always be thankful. We today encourage all of Eric's family and friends to join us to celebrate Eric's short, but purposeful life and, just as importantly, to commit that we do everything we can to help prevent future similar tragedies.

To that end, we must together endeavor to elect to public office only those individuals who genuinely pledge to place the well-being of citizens over political gain or corporate profits. We must demand financial and criminal accountability for those who unethically inflict pain and suffering under the guise of medical necessity. We must work together with a collective voice to ensure that fewer parents are faced with the emotionally daunting task of crafting an obituary for a deceased child following a preventable drug overdose. From tragedy comes hope. We owe it to Eric.