International Overdose Awareness Day is August 31

Join us as we observe International Overdose Awareness Day on August 31, 2023.

According to Penington Institute, the organization responsible for this international initiative:

“International Overdose Awareness Day aims to raise awareness of overdose and reduce the stigma of a drug-related death. It is also an opportunity to stimulate discussion about evidence-based overdose prevention and drug policy. International Overdose Awareness Day acknowledges the grief felt by families and friends remembering those who have died or suffered permanent injury due to drug overdose. International Overdose Awareness Day spreads the message about the tragedy of drug overdose death and that drug overdose is preventable.”

Overdose Facts

  • In 2021, provisional data from the CDC shows an estimate of 107,622 drug overdose deaths in the United States, an increase of 15% from 2020. Two-thirds of these deaths involved synthetic opioids, primarily fentanyl (Penington Institute, CDC).
  • In Georgia in 2021, there were 2,390 drug overdose deaths; 71% were attributed to opioids and 57% were attributed to fentanyl (Georgia DPH).

Get to know more facts and figures in our frequently-updated blog post, Raising Awareness: Opioid Overdose Facts.

How to Participate in International Overdose Awareness Day

Penington Institute offers several resources to guide you through observing International Overdose Awareness Day:

You can get additional resources and see what people across the globe are doing to raise awareness and reduce stigma by searching #EndOverdose, #OverdoseAware and #IOAD on social media.

See our blog post, Overdoses, Naloxone and the Georgia 911 Medical Amnesty Law, for in-depth information on the signs of a drug overdose and how you should respond in an emergency situation to save a life. For an informative one-page reference guide to additional information, see our Inspired newsletters on Prescription Drug Misuse, Cleaning Out the Medicine Cabinet and Prescription Medication Storage & Disposal.

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