WELLINGTON COUNTY – Two local events will be shining a light on the dangers of drug poisoning.
August 24th in Mount Forest and August 31st in Guelph will mark Drug Poisoning Awareness Day.
The Mount Forest event will feature an information fair, speakers, the process of calling out the names of people lost to drug poisoning, and the opportunity to dedicate music to these people.
Adrienne Crowder, Manager of the Wellington Guelph Drug Strategy, says deaths from drug poisoning are preventable.
She points out policies need to change more towards the way other substances are regulated.
Crowder elaborated that people who use certain types of substances and make purchases on the unregulated market lose their life because the substance wasn’t what they thought they were getting.
She encourages all to come out to these types of events, even if they don’t feel like they have a personal connection to the issue.
Overall, throughout the country, 30 people lose their lives each day to opioids.
Crowder added 13 lives have been lost to date this year in Guelph alone due to drug poisoning, and 8 a day across Ontario on average.
As a community, we’re all impacted, she says, as she urges people to come out to events like these ones.
