Sending a Message About Drug Use With a Fake Graveyard
In an age where states are legalizing and decriminalizing lesser drugs isn’t it time that we refocused drug prevention monies and efforts on this hidden epidemic that is sweeping our country? Oxycontin and Heroin addiction is a public health problem that ignores social barriers - don’t think for one moment that your family is exempt.
In the suburbs of Chicago, a stark reminder of the toll of heroin and prescription-pill addiction is making the rounds as a lawn exhibit. One hundred fake tombstones and banners are set up at a new location every week as a precursor to International Overdose Awareness Day.
In Medinah, a suburb northwest of Chicago, the houses are swanky and the lots are large. The country club has long been home to headline golf tournaments. On a recent day, across the street from a neighborhood park, Felicia Micelli stands next to a long line of painted mock tombstones that she and others have placed on her expansive lawn.
“What we have out here are a visual of how many people die in America a day from overdose,” Micelli says.
Felicia and her husband, Lou Micelli, started a foundation named for their son after his death two years ago. Louis Theodore Micelli was popular and an athlete who got hooked on painkillers and later heroin. He was 24 years old when he died. Micelli says people need to pay attention to what she calls an overdose epidemic.
More: Sending a Message About Drug Use With a Fake Graveyard : NPR