National Coalition Against Prescription Drug Abuse
Saving Lives Through Collaborative Action
What is International Overdose Awareness Day?
International Overdose Awareness Day is a global event held on 31 August each year and aims to raise awareness of overdose and reduce the stigma of a drug-related death. It also acknowledges the grief felt by families and friends, remembering those who have died or had a permanent injury due to a drug overdose.
International Overdose Awareness Day spreads the message that the tragedy of overdose death is preventable.
What Are the Aims of International Overdose Awareness Day?
International Overdose Awareness Day is the world’s largest annual campaign to end overdose, remember without stigma those who have died and acknowledge the grief of the family and friends left behind.
The campaign raises awareness of overdose, which is one of the world’s worst public health crises, and stimulates action and discussion about evidence-based overdose prevention and drug policy.
The campaign also acknowledges the profound grief felt by families and friends whose loved ones have died or suffered permanent injury from a drug overdose.
International Overdose Awareness Day spreads the message about the tragedy of drug overdose death and that drug overdose is preventable.
The goals of International Overdose Awareness Day are:
- To provide an opportunity for people to publicly mourn loved ones in a safe environment, some for the first time without feeling guilt or shame.
- To include the participation of the highest number of people in International Overdose Awareness Day events and encourage non-denominational involvement.
- To give community members information about the issue of fatal and non-fatal overdose.
- To send a strong message to current and former people who use drugs that they are valued.
- To stimulate discussion about overdose prevention and drug policy.
- To provide basic information on the range of available support services.
- To prevent and reduce drug-related harm by supporting evidence-based policy and practice.
- To inform people around the world about the risk of overdose.
What is an Overdose?
An overdose means having more of a drug (or combination of drugs) than your body can cope with. There are a number of signs and symptoms that show someone has overdosed, and these differ with the type of drug used. All drugs can cause an overdose, including prescription medication prescribed by a doctor. It is important to know the right amount and the right time to take your medication. It is also vital to know what drugs should not be mixed, and to seek help if you feel you are not in control of your drug use.
What are the signs of an overdose?
To learn about the signs of prescription drug abuse overdose and overdose response measures, please visit NCAPDA’s Education section on their website.
Show Your Support
Anyone can raise awareness by spreading information about overdose. Overdose is highly stigmatized, and that’s part of the problem.
The stigma surrounding drug use and overdose prevents many individuals from seeking help when they suspect an overdose. Countless deaths may be prevented by destroying this stigma, so people feel safe talking about their struggles and looking for help.
You can get involved by participating in:
- Educational events
- Candlelight vigils for overdose victims
- Walks to honor lost loved ones
- Fundraisers
- Naloxone (Narcan) training
- Overdose awareness t-shirts
- Sharing social media posts
- Distributing overdose fact sheets
- Commemorating someone by adding your tribute here
You can also wear and display symbols of overdose awareness. These symbols include silver badges, purple wristbands, and purple lanyards. Wearing these symbols demonstrates support for those who have suffered from an overdose and their loved ones. Moreover, it brings attention to the issues and has the potential to spark a conversation. They are also a reminder that every life is valuable.
Sources: International Overdose Awareness Day and NCAPDA
Art 4 Recovery Fundraiser
NCAPDA is accepting donations for original artwork lovingly created by artists Erin Jacques and Jennifer Alba to help build our new Recovery Support Scholarship Fund that will be awarded to North Carolina residents as determined by our program governing committee beginning in the Fall, 2021.
To Make Your Donation for Artwork, click here.
About the Artists
Erin Jacques is originally from the West Coast but has been living in North Carolina for the past 12 years. She is the mother of three amazing children, her oldest son Bryce who would be thirty-three years old this year, passed away on October 17, 2018, from endocarditis followed by two strokes leading to brain death as a result of IV drug use. Erin did not start painting until a year after his passing, she paints as therapy and a way to connect with her son. Most of her paintings are landscapes, she loves the outdoors, and her son also loved the beach, the mountains, and outdoor sports. Bryce was an amazing son and man, very loving and caring, always giving and trying to help others, he loved his family, friends, and job as an ironworker in California’s bay area. He is desperately missed by his family, each painting that Erin creates contains his initials “BT.” The hope is that through these paintings, awareness of this devastating disease will increase, and stigma and shame will be replaced with real help and understanding.
Jennifer Alba is a North Carolina native. She lived in Greensboro most of her life but moved to Raleigh in 2014. She is a mother of 3 boys. Her oldest son Joseph passed away on September 2, 2017, from a drug overdose. Joseph struggled with addiction for 16 years. Soon after his death, Jennifer started painting and hiding Joseph’s (Joe Joe) name in each painting to memorialize him. Painting became a way of therapy for Jennifer, and her other two sons enjoy trying to find Joe Joe’s name in the artwork. Jennifer’s painting style is mostly abstract, using contrasting colors. Along with Erin, Jennifer’s hope through her paintings is to bring awareness to the disease of addiction and, thru our stories, reduce the stigma that surrounds this disease. Our boys were so much more than what our society stigmatizes them as. They were bright, smart, and sensitive human beings that lost their lives to a horrible disease.
Raleigh Rally for Change
Join us for our 7th annual International Overdose Awareness Day (IOAD) event at 1 E Edenton St. in Raleigh, NC, “Rally For Change,” on August 31st from 4:30pm – 9:00 pm. The event will include information tables, guest speakers, music, reading of names, and a candlelight vigil to remember those lost in North Carolina to overdose that are in our records. Overdose rescue training and FREE naloxone will also be available.
IOAD is a time for remembrance as well as a time to act. While we remember and reflect on the lives lost to overdose, we also gather to support those in recovery and those who need to be. Neither path is an easy journey, but together we can find ways to prevent fatal overdose.
Memorialize a Loved One
These are multiple ways in which you can have your loved one memorialized during our Rally For Change event:
– Name read during the candlelight vigil.
– Name added to the memorial banner and video.
If you would like to add your loved one’s name to the memorial banner and video, please Click Here.
**NOTE: Those who have submitted in previous years, do not need to resubmit.
Sponsorship Program
NCAPDA relies on our generous sponsors each year to hold our IOAD “Rally For Change” event. In addition to covering our expenses this year, funds remaining after expenses will be applied to our Recovery Support Scholarship program that will be used to help support entry into treatment and recovery programs for North Carolina residents. Please consider joining us as a 2023 sponsor!
IOAD Sponsorship 2023
Go here to make your sponsorship donation.
T-Shirts to Support Recovery
T-shirt’s are now available for purchase to help support recovery for North Carolina residents. All T-shirt donations stay in North Carolina. Click on this link to order yours today! https://bit.ly/3DXggLO
Facts and Statistics
Worldwide
There is an international crisis of drug overdose. Over the last twenty years drug overdose deaths have increased significantly in many parts of the world. Each year a record number of deaths are reported, predominantly driven by the misuse of opioids, often in combination with other drugs including benzodiazepines, stimulants and alcohol.
In 2020, an estimated 284 million people – one in every 18 people aged 15-64 – had used a drug in the past 12 months, a 26 per cent increase from 2010.
Opioids account for two-thirds (69 per cent) of drug overdose deaths. The estimated number of people using opioids globally has doubled from 26-36 million people in 2010 to 61.3 million in 2020. There are currently multiple ongoing opioid overdose epidemics in the world; one is driven by the increased presence of the synthetic opioid fentanyl in the United States and Canada, while another in North Africa, West Africa, the Near and Middle East and South-West Asia is due to the non-medical use of the synthetic opioid tramadol.
Some of the new drugs available today – most notably synthetic opioids and amphetamine-type stimulants – are more dangerous than their counterparts were 20 or even 10 years ago. There were 1,127 new psychoactive substances reported in 134 countries and territories between 2009 and 2021. Opioids are the fastest-growing and most harmful group of new psychoactive substances – there were 87 different types recorded globally in 2020, an increase from just one in 2009.
Beyond a few countries and regions, most notably North America, the European Union, United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, reliable data on fatal and non-fatal overdose do not exist or are at best questionable. In many low-resource countries, deaths caused by overdose are not reliably recorded, instead being classified as heart attacks or respiratory failure. This occurs for many reasons; among the important contributors are widespread stigma about drug use, fear of police harassment, political pressure, and inconsistent or inadequate coronial systems. The illegal nature of drugs and profound stigma associated with drug use leaves an overwhelming reluctance in many parts of the world to acknowledge let alone report on drug related deaths.
Sources:
Penington Institute (2022). Global Overdose Snapshot.
UNODC (2022). World Drug Report 2022.
United States
North America continues to experience the highest drug-related mortality rate in the world, accounting for one- fourth of all drug-related deaths worldwide.
In 2022, provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention yielded an estimate of 109,680 drug overdose deaths in the United States. The 82,998 predicted opioid-involved drug overdose deaths in the United States for the 12-month period ending in December 2022 is an increase from 82,310 in the previous year. Resulting in an average of 300 overdose deaths per day.
Sources:
Penington Institute (2022). Global Overdose Snapshot.
National Centre for Health Statistics, 2022.
UNODC (2022). World Drug Report 2022. CDC
Drug Information & Educational Resources
The resources below can be downloaded and used to spread the message to friends, family, colleagues, and your community to help prevent overdose. Please ensure that posters are displayed thoughtfully and responsibly so as not to be in breach of local by-laws.
All resources are courtesy of the International Overdose Awareness Day. For additional resources, please visit the International Overdose Awareness Day website and NCAPDA’s Awareness Tools page.
For information on reputable organizations and courses please visit NCAPDA’s Resources Links page .
Fact Sheets
Methamphetamines – A4 fact sheet
New Psychoactive Substances – A4 fact sheet
Event Organizer Support Kit:
Get Involved on Social Media:
Change your profile on Facebook or Twitter
Spanish Resources:
Someone you know can be affected by overdose – Spanish – A3 poster