Greg Coburn / news@whmi.com


A drug overdose awareness day is coming to Livingston County.

Mitchell’s Hope is hosting their 8th Annual International Overdose Awareness Day event on Wednesday, August 31st at the Fowlerville Centennial Park. The event aims to increase awareness about drug overdoses.

Narcan Training is from 6 to 6:30 pm, which gives information on how it is used to reverse the effects of an overdose. A Candlelight Vigil is from 8 to 8:30 pm, and there will also be many guest speakers on the topic of overdose.

Organizers say it’s important that the community be educated on the real dangers of drugs in the community. President of Mitchell’s Hope Michele Wagner says every eleven minutes someone dies from a drug-related death in the United States. She noted Michigan is ranked 23rd in the nation for overdose and drug-related deaths.

Wagner says statistics show death from overdose now outranks death from motor vehicle accidents, and death from heroin overdoses have tripled in the last couple of years.