Overdose Awareness
ZANESVILLE, Ohio – The Zanesville-Muskingum County Health Department is recognizing this week as Overdose Awareness Week, which has adopted the color purple as a symbol for the cause.
ZMCHD Behavioral Health Specialist and Drug Free Muskingum Cofounder Monica Doan shared how people can show their support by wearing and decorating their surroundings in purple throughout the week.
“Today is paint Muskingum purple, Doan said. “Tomorrow we have lapel pins that we’re passing out to all of our partners. We have Photo Booth Friday. Save people on Thursday, I believe and Naloxone. So every day we have something different just to bring awareness, prevention, education to our community about overdose awareness and such.”
Doan believes prevention is important because, as she says, addiction doesn’t discriminate, it can happen to anybody. The public is invited to participate in a national Overdose Awareness Day event that will take place at Zane’s Landing on Monday, August 31st.
“This event is for anybody,” Doan said. “It’s not just for somebody who has somebody struggling or who has lost somebody. Definitely family oriented and all of our partners bring something for families to do. So we definitely promote that.”
Doan began promoting overdose awareness here in Muskingum County 6-years-ago, when the opioid epidemic was in full swing across the state. She noted that Muskingum County witnessed a 31 percent drop in overdose deaths between 2024 and 2025, but 2026 has already seen an increase from last year’s total.
