BOSTON (WHDH) - Governor Charlie Baker joined advocates and families impacted by addiction to bring awareness to overdoses by planting 20,000 flags on the Boston Common.
The purple flags represent the 20,000 people who have died from an overdose in Massachusetts from 2011-2021.
“One of the biggest challenges with addiction is the stigma and the shame and the difficulty associated with taking that first step to acknowledge you have a problem then be willing to do something about it and that’s been true forever,” said Baker.
Baker said events such as these help reduce the stigma of addiction.
Wednesday, August 31 is International Overdose Awareness Day.
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