International Overdose Awareness Day (IOAD) is a global event held annually on August 31st of each year.  The event draws worldwide attention to the need to prevent and create awareness about drug overdose.

Together, communities, families, people who use drugs, government officials, international organizations, businesses and policy makers come together in a shared effort to reduce the tragedy of overdose.

The goals of Overdose Day are:

•  to raise awareness of overdose and reduce the stigma of a drug-related death; and
• to acknowledge the grief felt by families and friends remembering those who have died or been injured as a result of drug overdose.

Free campaign materials and other resources developed by the Penington Institute in Australia are available for public use and can be downloaded from their website:  overdoseday.com.

As in years past, BMC’s OBAT Team in collaboration with our new Grayken Center for Addiction Medicine will be participating in this powerful campaign.  We encourage all of you to also observe Overdose Day on August 31st and post any planned events to the Overdose Day events calendar.