Aug. 31 is a tough day for many. It serves as the official International Overdose Awareness Day.

Too many families find themselves added to the list each year of families who have lost someone to drug overdoses.

Sometimes the circumstances around an overdose are sudden and unexpected, and other times death comes after a long battle with the evil drugs.

It could be a situation where what started out as a helpful drug intended to ease suffering and pain became an addictive product that ended up ruining lives. Or it may be the result of a horrible game played against weaker people by drug gangs and other addicts who draw their victims into the downward spiral of desperation and despair.

It doesn’t matter how they got to that point and certainly not how it ended their lives. What matters most is that we as a community continue to work toward solving the problem of drug abuse.

By now we should have learned that no one and no family is immune. Drug abuse has taken the lives of people in all walks of life.

You can’t buy your loved one’s way out of drug abuse. It isn’t as easy as throwing money at it.

It is a disease regardless of how it starts, and it is a disease without a guaranteed cure.

If you drive by Diamond Park and see people congregating there, it may be families of a loved one who didn’t make it, or it may be a group of people offering what they can in the way of support.

If you haven’t yet been touched by the evils of drug abuse, thank God. Praise God that we have places in this community with the expertise to deal with these issues and continue efforts to make Butler County a leader in the fight against addiction.

— RV