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UF Health Psychiatric Hospital hosts event for International Overdose Awareness Day

Press release from UF Health

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Individuals and families impacted by drug overdose gathered Thursday evening at the UF Health Psychiatric Hospital in recognition of International Overdose Awareness Day.

In 2021, more than 100,000 people died from drug overdose in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In Alachua County, the age-adjusted rate per 100,000 deaths from overdose was 16.6 in the same year, with higher rates in several surrounding counties, according to the Florida Department of Health.

About one million lives have been lost to drug overdose since 1999, said Kent. T. Mathias, M.D., assistant professor in psychiatry and addiction medicine at the UF Department of Psychiatry, at the event. And a majority of those are opioid-related deaths.

“This really skyrocketed during the pandemic because people became isolated, and people lost their support networks,” Mathias said. “The biggest thing they lost was the social connection from friends and family.”

Several mental health and addiction/recovery agencies were present, offering educational resources to teach people about the dangers of drug overdose and ways to prevent it. Attendees also participated in a candlelight vigil to honor those individuals who died from overdose.

Purple ribbons were abundant at the event, signifying solidarity with the national movement to bring attention to drug overdose awareness and prevention.

  • Nobody needs to be aware of “drug overdoses” if people read their Rx instructions. This should have been called “Read Your Rx instructions day.” Probably no one attended this event except those who like to collect pens and ribbons and various sorts of providers who get paid to stage and attend these things. Imagine: “Hey kids, let’s attend Overdose Awareness Day!” Na, not gonna happen unless the kids get a fluffy overdosed puppy for attending.

    • That is not entirely true. There are several people that take sometimes 15 prescriptions a day. They have so many doctors prescribing different pills that interact with one another, sometimes concealing out each other and sometime double dosing on the same pill under different names. This is something that really affects the elderly.

  • “Attendees also participated in a candlelight vigil to honor those individuals who died from overdose.”

    As another ‘awareness cause’ this one is probably as relevant as the next, but ‘to honor’ is perhaps a poor choice of words.

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