Advocates To March For Overdose Awareness Thursday At FAU

WLRN Public Media | By Peter Haden

Published August 30, 2017 at 10:04 AM EDT

Delray Beach Fire Rescue responds to a double-overdose call on Nov. 18, 2016.

Drug overdoses now kill more Americans than car accidents or gun violence.

Thursday is International Overdose Awareness Day and, to mark the occasion, advocates and officials from Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade Counties will gather on the Florida Atlantic University campus in Boca Raton to call for greater federal action to end the United States’s epidemic of addiction and overdose deaths.

Rallies will be held in cities around the country.

Maureen Kielian is a parent advocate from Fort Lauderdale who helped organize the event.

“My son one time said to me, ‘Mom, I know so many people from my high school that are dead [from drug overdoses].’” said Kielian. “And I sat back and I thought, how horrific is that? That’s a sad statement.”

Officials estimate 14 people a day died of overdoses in Florida last year.

At 6 p.m. Thursday, attendees will March from FAU's Research Park to University Theater, where they will hold a town hall discussion and a candlelight vigil.

For more information, go to https://www.eventbrite.com/e/southeast-florida-local-fedup-2017-rally-tickets-35903987794.