A local woman is holding an opioid awareness walk this weekend after losing her brother at the age of 17 due to an overdose. This comes as the opioid crisis is worsening in the U.S.
The number of deaths reached over 81,000 in 2022 after more than tripling over the past decade, according to the online medical journal The Lancet .
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Local Margo Weisblat shared pictures of her brother, who died in 2020 due to an overdose of heroin mixed with fentanyl.
Weisblat said she doesn’t want anyone else to be part of the overdose statistics. So, instead of getting a tattoo to remember her brother, she’s honoring him in a much bigger way.
”Yeah, I did want to get a tattoo with his name because he had my name on his wrist and my sister’s name on his other wrist. But I thought it would be better to do something that could rest more people,” Weisblat said.
So, she created an opioid awareness walk at the Seawall Pavilion in Jax Beach. It will take place on International Overdose Awareness Day on Aug. 31.