On Thursday, August 31st, Montgomery Goes Purple will host its annual Resource Fair starting at 5pm at Memorial Plaza (101 Monroe St. Rockville, MD). The Kick-Off Event begins at 6:30 and will include food trucks and more. At 7:30pm a candlelight ceremony vigil will be held. Per the City of Rockville: The opioid crisis is a national public health emergency. Rockville Goes Purple is an awareness campaign alongside our county and state partners that seeks to shine the spotlight on the impact of opioid addiction and educate our community about the epidemic. In 2018, the Mayor and Council formally joined other state and local jurisdictions to take legal action against drug manufacturers and distributors for their role in the nationwide opioid crisis.

According to the Maryland Department of Health Data-Informed Overdose Risk Mitigation 2021 Annual Report, in 2020, there were 2,799 overdose-related fatalities, the highest annual total in the State of Maryland’s history to date. Additionally, there continues to be a growing disparity in overdose-related deaths in the Black community. Between 2016 and 2020, overdose deaths among non-Hispanic Black Marylanders rose by 64.5% as compared to deaths in the non-Hispanic white community, which increased by 15.3% over the same period. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that deaths from drug overdoses reached 107,622 nationwide in 2021, an increase of nearly 15% from the 93,655 deaths estimated in 2020, and 108,500 in 2022, “a staggering record that reflects the crisis and the continued spread of the synthetic opioid fentanyl in the illegal narcotic supply,” the proclamation states.