Скачать или смотреть 'Overdoses don't discriminate': Rally raises awareness about opioid epidemic, addiction

Kalamazoo is looking back at the opioid epidemic and looking forward to a future that can move past its devastating impact.

According to the CDC, more than 107,000 Americans died from an overdose in 2021, with Michiganders making up just under 3% of them.

With its pop-up rally Sunday, the COPE Network went beyond statistics to share the stories behind the numbers.

Executive Director Nancy King stood along Park Street to show drivers what an overdose can take away, holding up a picture of her daughter who died of a heroin overdose in 2012.

Her experience was shared by several other demonstrators on Overdose Awareness Day holding up pictures of loved ones and slogans to raise awareness of one of the biggest health crises in the country.

For 10 years King’s group has worked to keep overdoses from being fatal by distributing Naloxone, also known as Narcan.

"This is why I do what I do, is because I didn't have the information I need," King said.

She says many kinds of addictions, even ones outside of drugs, come down to a way of dealing with trauma.

Many who turn to substances then overdose, according to King, because they haven’t been educated on how potent and dangerous they can be.

To that end, Overdose Awareness Day also featured free supplies like test strips and demonstrations on how to use them.

One volunteer says one tiny container of nasal spray Narcan helped her save the lives of multiple friends.

Amie Jozwiak said she came to this event because her own experiences with support groups gave her the self confidence to change her own life.

"They believed in me for the first time," Jozwiak said. "Somebody believed in me that I could stop using because for a while I was hopeless."

Read more: https://wwmt.com/news/local/overdose-...
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