Purple Flags In Natick For Opioid Awareness Day

NATICK, MA — Natick will observe Opioid Awareness Day in August with a two-week-long arrangement of purple flags at the First Congregational Church.

The flags will be arranged on Aug. 21 by volunteers, with each one representing a life lost to an opioid overdose. The display is being arranged by SOAR Natick, which organized a display of over 2,000 purple flags at Newton-Wellesley Hospital in 2019.

The flags will be on display from Friday until Sept. 4. Anyone who wants to post a flag or help set up the display should email soarnatick@gmail.com.

International Opioid Awareness Day is held on Aug. 31 each year to remember people who died due to an overdose, and to reduce the stigma around overdose deaths.

About 467 Massachusetts residents died due to an opioid overdose over the first three months of 2020, according to the latest state figures. That's slightly lower than the 495 who died over the first three months of 2019.

Overdose deaths have been trending down in recent years from the peak of 2,102 in 2016. The total number of deaths hit a four-year low of 2,015 in 2019.