Muskingum County Assists Drug Awareness and Prevention Efforts

ZANESVILLE, Ohio – Drug addiction and overdose deaths are tragic not only for the victims but for the families forced to cope with the consequences.

Drug Free Muskingum is an all volunteer coalition that offers awareness and prevention activities to help families better understand substance abuse disorders. 

Drug Free Muskingum Co-Founder Monica Batteiger met with the Muskingum County Commissioners to discuss upcoming public awareness events and ask for the county’s assistance in the promotion. 

“This is our fourth annual Overdose Awareness Day event. So we came here today to partner with them and ask them about placing lights,” Batteiger said. “This year’s theme is we can be the light… ‘Together We Can Be The Light.’ So we are allowing families to make solar light kits in honor of the loved ones that they have lost. And we will be placing those here on the courthouse lawn.”

The solar lights will be assembled during a family friendly event Monday, August 26th, at the health department and will be featured Saturday evening, August 31, during a downtown celebration of life and memory walk. 

“Typically in the past, we’ve had, you know, over a hundred, 125 and 150 people in participation,”  Batteiger said. “Yeah, we’ll start here at the courthouse. Potentially walk down Main Street and down Sixth Street. We would like to get some of our local businesses involved to help celebrate the lives of those that we’ve lost to substance abuse disorder and overdoses.”

The commissioners agreed to lighting the courthouse purple during the last week in August in support of the coalition’s efforts.