Tony Luke Jr. launches initiative to end stigma of heroin addiction after son's death

PHILADELPHIA (WTXF) - Philadelphians associate the name Tony Luke with restaurants but for the past three months, the famous family has been struggling to come to grips with the loss of a loved one to an opioid overdose.

Tony Luke, Jr., opened up about the death of his son, Tony the third, in an incredibly emotional Wednesday morning interview on Good Day Philadelphia.

In March, he lost his son Tony to a heroin overdose.

Now, he’s announcing a new Brown and White Initiative to end the stigma of heroin addiction.

Tony is encouraging anyone who has lost a loved one to heroin to create and wear a brown and white item, and share it through social media using #BrownAndWhite.

Tony said the #BrownAndWhite initiative is not designed to be a charity, but a platform to launch conversations between survivors and the general public. Tony says he chose the colors brown and white because they are the colors of heroin. 

There will be no fundraising.  I want this to be organic.  I want to let others who have lost a loved one to this dreadful disease know they are not alone,” Tony said in a previous statement about the initiaive.   

During the interview, Tony began to explain the changes he saw in his son after he became addicted, saying that

“I call it ‘The Monster’ you become someone different. You can tell, I can see I can hear it,” Tony said, “He would be tired, he was always tired, and I’d say to him ‘how could you be tired, you slept 12-hours.’ And my son Michael eloquently put it in his eulogy, he was tired of fighting, you just get tired of fighting, you feel like you’re letting everyone down, but you can’t control it.”

Tony continued saying that there is nothing to be ashamed of.

“These people have a name and they have a voice and I’m tired of hiding that. I won’t hide it, and I ask people, don’t hide it. Yell that person’s name, do not be ashamed, there’s nothing to be ashamed of. Let the world know that these are people and they need to be helped. They don’t need to be judged, he said.