The Southampton Addiction and Recovery Committee
hosted the second annual Opioid Candle Light Vigil on Saturday May 11th,
Mother’s Day Eve, at Good Ground Park in Hampton Bays. As a positive sign of the progress made
fighting the opioid epidemic in our community, the number of candles on stage
were fewer than the year before.
Like the year before, a circle of votive candles was
designed on the stage with each candle representing a life lost to opioids in
Suffolk County. There were 297 votives,
compared to over 400 last year, representing the number of deaths in 2017 in
the County. A smaller circle of larger
candles symbolizing the number of lives lost in the Town of Southampton was
also smaller. There were just 6 candles
in that circle this year, compared to 19 the year before.
“These circles are growing smaller as our efforts to
end this crisis grows larger and we hope more effective,” said Southampton Town
Supervisor Jay Schneiderman. “Someday we
may stand on this stage and there won’t be a circle of candles here, we will
just stand in a circle to celebrate the end of the opioid crisis.”