LRADAC calls attention to rising overdose deaths

Preliminary data from the Richland and Lexington County Coroner’s offices shows that at least 172 lives were lost to drug overdoses in these counties alone in 2021.

LRADAC, which offers prevention, intervention and treatment services, took part in Black Balloon Day on Friday, commemorating the lives lost by setting up a special art installation of 172 balloons.

Terry Browman-Blair said the display serves as a startling and moving reminder of the loss she experienced more than twenty years ago, and how the community still can’t seem to “get a grip” on the issue of substance use disorder.

Browman-Blair lost her son Gary to a heroin overdose in April of 1994.