KALAMAZOO, Mich. (WOOD) — Sunday was International Overdose Awareness Day, remembering those who have died from drug use and in encouraging hope and help for those still struggling.
In Kalamazoo, a timeline along one end of Bronson Park remembered the hundreds lives lost to drug overdoses in Southwest Michigan alone. Families who had suffered a loss held up posters showing their loved ones or signed their names on ribbons.
The event was COPE Network‘s eighth to mark Overdose Awareness Day. The group’s executive director Nancy King lost her daughter in 2012 to a heroin overdose. Inspired to push for harm reduction initiatives, she launched the nonprofit in 2016.
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King said breaking down the stigma around addiction can open the door to helping someone in need.
“I know when my daughter was struggling with her heroin use, it was very secretive and I was ashamed. And now that we are talking about it, there really is no shame in addiction,” King said. “People don’t chose addiction. It’s something that happens to them, often because of trauma.”
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King added that the wider availability opioid reversal drug naloxone, more commonly known by brand name Narcan, has curbed the number of deaths in recent years…