Kansas City South Side Display Serves As Cont'd Reminder Of Ongoing Opioid Epidemic

Kind of like a Halloween yard display only much scarier than goblins and zombies given that opioids have likely killed somebody close to almost every American . . . Take a look:

The stakes were shaped like nasal spray bottles of naloxone, the overdose reversal drug which First Call provides and wants to see as standard issue in first aid kits.

“It’s not new that people with active addictions live in our community, or that young folks are experimenting with drugs,” said First Call President and CEO Emily Hage. “What is new is that we have an incredibly lethal drug supply. Anyone taking street drugs is playing a game of Russian roulette.”

According to a 2023 drug overdose death report by the University of Missouri-St. Louis, 73% of all overdose deaths involved opioids. Among this group, fentanyl was present in almost all (93%) of the cases.

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .

Lawn display calls attention to overdose crisis

By Sara Wiercinski In observance of International Overdose Awareness Day on August 31, First Call installed 443 lawn stakes outside its State Line Road headquarters, representing the lives lost to drug overdose in the Kansas City metro area in 2023. The stakes were shaped like nasal spray bottles of naloxone, the overdose reversal drug which...