INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — To commemorate Black Balloon Day, an Indianapolis nonprofit is launching an online resource for drug education and harm prevention.
Black Balloon Day is a national campaign to remember people who’ve died from a drug overdose.
It started in 2016 when the family of Greg Trembley, a Massachusetts man, used the balloons to honor him a year after he died of an overdose.
Nicki Cochran, Overdose Lifeline‘s director of research and programs evaluation, says it’s important to share these stories.
“Overdose and substance use are very stigmatized,” Cochran said. “For Black Balloon Day, we attempt to give people a space where they can celebrate and remember their loved ones in a non-stigmatized way.”
For the occasion, Overdose Lifeline created KATE, an online chatbot. People can anonymously ask the free tool questions and receive what the group calls “stigma-free” facts.