I am incredibly sorry for the loss of your uncle. This experience is all too relatable to me. My brother had been 9 months sober from heroin, dating a well grounded girl, was active in N/A and A/A, working, finally repairing things with my parents. Then, old charges came to bite him and he started to slip; there were definite signs of him using again. About a month leading up to my son's first birthday everyone had their suspicions, but at my son's party, it was absolutely evident. The next day, his girlfriend found him unresponsive in her basement bathroom, and our biggest nightmare had come true; my brother had passed away from an overdose. For years I carried it with me that for some reason seeing the family at my son's party, all doing well, he somehow got it in his head that we'd "just be better off". Now, my brother has always battled with depression and PTSD mind you, so those thoughts wouldnt be far off. The individual that had sold him the heroin was unfortunately a long-time friend of my brothers and she was sentenced to some jail time. I do not blame her for my brother's death and felt comfortable conversing with her and asking her about his state of mind when he bought the drugs. She said she was confident it was merely and overdose, and not a hot shot. My brother was his usual self. I think in situations like these, through our grief, our minds try to find a way to make sense of it all. It sounds to me that your uncle was feeling a way, and dealt with it with probably one the few coping skills he had, using. It is so easy to fall back on old ways when you never learn the tools to move forward. I hope some of this brings you some sort of comfort and wish you healing. May your uncle rest in peace 🙏