By Shira Laucharoen  

In commemoration of Somerville residents lost to drug overdoses, the City of Somerville held a Memorial Gathering and Overdose Awareness Ceremony at City Hall on August 30. Attendees placed 156 purple flags on the lawn outside of the building in honor of the 156 Somerville lives ended by addiction since 2000, with one larger flag representing those lost in previous years.

The event was held in recognition of International Overdose Awareness Day on August 31 and National Recovery Month in September, which was recently declared in Somerville. After the ceremony, City Hall was lit with a purple light and will remain so until September 5, as a reminder that the tragedy of overdose death is preventable. Speakers included Mayor Joseph Curtatone and Pastor Jordan Harris of the church Connexion, who called for increased awareness about the epidemic.

“I couldn’t shake the feeling that we shouldn’t be here tonight, that there shouldn’t be so many purple flags to place,” said Harris. “We are facing a crisis in our communities and in our homes.”

Pastor Jordan Harris spoke at the Memorial Gathering and Overdose Awareness Ceremony held at City Hall on August 30.

Director of Health and Human Services Doug Kress said that the city is committed to supporting those in recovery and promoting education around drug abuse, specifically looking at opioids. The Somerville Office of Prevention works with the school system to teach students about healthy lifestyles and alternatives to using substances, offering programs that focus on youth. Screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment, a practice for identifying and preventing drug abuse, is conducted in partnership with Somerville schools. The city also holds training on how to use Narcan, a medication used to treat narcotic overdoses in emergency situations.

“Being educated on everything and opening ourselves to learning about addiction is important,” said Kress. “There’s so much stigma tied to this, and it’s a challenge for a lot of different people as well. The first thing we can do is eliminate stigma. It can impact anybody. We need to decide how we talk to young people about substance abuse, how do we offer alternatives. We need to show there is a future out there, and it does get better.”

JoAnn Rivieccio, co-founder of Somerville Overcoming Addiction, a community action group that participated in the organization of the event, said that in order to help a child or person who is addicted, that individual must be ready. She stated that the only way to aid someone is to talk with them “one on one,” adding that, “It’s up to them to decide.” Rivieccio, who lost a son due to addiction, said that drugs do not discriminate and that any family can be affected.

“I went to a Cambridge Health Alliance meeting, and they have statistics on overdoses for the city. In 2009, there was one person. That was my son who passed away,” said Rivieccio. “Looking at that figure, I was lost for words. I was totally devastated. That number one stands for my son.”

The ceremony was held with the intention of remembering those lost to addiction and raising awareness about the epidemic.