Sweet Bitters

S1 E10 When Drugs Come Roaring Back

Going into April of this year, things were looking pretty good for Marie. She was recovering well from shoulder surgery. The podcast was on track and doing well. And Greg was working hard alongside Ken and really enjoying his time with his daughter and the whole family. But, out of the blue, Marie got a call that the police were looking for Greg. Flooded with emotions of all kinds, Marie started putting together the pieces of the puzzle and facing the fact that addiction had been laying in wait.  In this episode we look at how Marie's feelings about addiction and trust and betrayal have evolved with this latest chapter.

S1 E9 When Drugs Take All

Five years ago the unimaginable happened to Marie when her son died of a drug overdose. In this episode, Marie takes us back to that day, the depression that followed, and where she is now in her mental health journey.

S1 E8 When Drugs Come Home

As Marie's sons struggled with their addictions to drugs, her entire family was struggling to hold on to some semblance of the family life they had once enjoyed. Marie and Ken tried everything they could think of to help their boys, desperation leading to some extremes. But although they had some short term successes, they weren't able to drive drugs from their boys' lives.  In this episode Marie talks about the impact of drug addiction on her family and own mental health.

S1 E7 The Boys & Drugs

It's a strange thing to know your kids so well and then almost overnight, they seem to become entirely different people. That's what happened to Marie when her sons became addicted to drugs. When they were using and she tried to reach them, those funny, athletic, strong sons she raised would look back at her with vacant eyes. But when they were sober, she found her lost family again.  In this episode, Marie introduces us to those boys, the people behind the addictions. And she recounts how drugs took a hold of them. This is the first of three episodes that will take us through Marie's roller coaster journey with the addictions of others.

S1 E6 Pillars of Sand

While Marie was focussed on the fate of her family, their story was playing out in the headlines and online. Her family was depicted as "the Highland mob" and "the family that kills together, stays together". Marie saw a deep chasm between the story she read in the papers and what she knew to be true about that night on Betula Place.  That same chasm was evident when the case moved into the courtroom. As we heard in Episode 4 much of the testimony wasn't really credible.  Those experiences shook Marie's faith in journalism and the justice system. In this episode, we explore what happens when you realize that institutions that are supposed to protect you are build on Pillars of Sand.