A candlelight vigil for those who have been lost to drug overdose was held at the South County Recovery Center on Wednesday, August 31, International Overdose Awareness Day.
Great Barrington — International Overdose Awareness Day took place on Wednesday, August 31. According to its website, the event is part of a campaign to end drug overdoses and to remember those who died. A candlelight vigil for those who have been lost was held at the South County Recovery Center. Residents, along with people who are still in recovery, were part of the vigil.
According to Recovery Center Director Gary Pratt, more than 374 people in Berkshire County have died due to overdoses since 2010. In the front of the center, 374 purple flags of remembrance were placed for each person who died. “There is a huge stigma that’s attached to substance use disorder, recovery, and treatment, which makes it very hard for people to reach out,” Pratt said. “I want it to be known that anybody can walk through the doors of South County Recovery Center and be met with absolutely no judgment whatsoever.”
Pratt said that the stigma surrounding addiction is a primary reason why people do not seek treatment for substance abuse. “There’s even a stigma within the recovery community itself because recovery is a broad spectrum that goes from abstinence, to use, to harm reduction, to medication-assisted treatment,” Pratt said. “There’s no wrong way to do it because progress is progress. However, we’ve been stuck for some time in this moral model where if someone is being treated for substance abuse, they have a moral failing, and they are a bad person for using substances and seeking help. We’ve moved toward a medical model where we understand that substance use disorder is a treatable disease. There’s a stigma attached to it, just like the stigma attached to mental health treatment. There was a huge stigma in the 1980s when it came to the AIDS crisis, and there’s still a stigma when it comes to HIV. But then people who had HIV stood up and said ‘enough is enough’ and ‘silence equals death.’ That’s what we’re doing right now, standing up.”
“I think people are seeing the stigma that surrounds addiction and people are now understanding that it is a disease, not a choice,” Krystle Kincaid of Berkshire Harm Reduction said. Representatives from Berkshire Harm Reduction were part of the Aug. 31 vigil. Kincaid said that the organization just opened an office in Great Barrington in May.
“We also offer a syringe exchange, testing, and referrals for people who are seeking treatment,” Kincaid said. “We are meeting people where they’re at with no judgment. We are offering them healthier options for their lives. Meeting people where they are at with no judgment is important because we are all the same. We bleed the same, we go through the same things.
“No matter what your background is, you deserve whatever treatment there is,” Tyler Bentz with Berkshire Harm Reduction said. “For a long time, the social norm was that we pushed away these individuals. We want to be accepting of these people for them to get the treatments that they need.”
At the vigil, Bentz wore a t-shirt that read, “Harm reduction is healthcare.”
“Harm reduction is like wearing a seatbelt or having a fire extinguisher,” Kincaid said.
“Every overdose is preventable, every single one of them,” Pratt said. “Substance use services have been neglected for a very long time. People are dying due to overdoses every single day. Right here in South County alone, we lost three people in the past three weeks.”
Right before the vigil, Pratt spoke to residents gathered at the center. “For those who don’t know me, I’m a person who has been in long-term recovery for more than 14 years,” he said. “I have been working in this field for about eight years. I am 46 years old, and I don’t remember everybody that has been part of my life that has passed away from this disease. On this day, I try to recall as many names as I possibly can, but I don’t recall them all. I see a wash of faces, and little bits of them pop into my head. I’ve made it my mission to save one life. Just one, that’s all. Because if I can save one, maybe that person can save another. That’s how it all snowballs.”
Olivia Martin, reserve officer for the Great Barrington Police Department, spoke about her brother who died in May 2021. “My oldest brother Bruce lost his life due to a battle with addiction,” Martin said. “Addiction does not care when you have all the facts, knowledge, and statistics of the disease. Addiction does not care that we have an endless supply of phone numbers for clinics, physicians, rehab centers, or a pocket full of resources to offer someone. Addiction does not discriminate. It’s time to smash the stigma of addiction.”
On Saturday, Sept. 17 at 10 a.m. at Town Hall, a Smash The Stigma event will take place sponsored by The South County Rural Recovery Center.
For more information about The South County Rural Recovery Center call 413-645-3564 or go to its website.
For more information about Berkshire Harm Reduction call 413-584-9937 or go to its website.
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