In Waukesha County, citizens and elected officials gathered outside of the courthouse Thursday in remembrance of the 60 confirmed victims of drug-related deaths last year as a part of International Overdose Awareness Day.
They released 60 butterflies into the air to honor the lives lost, as well as to raise awareness about drug addiction.
County Board Supervisor Christine Howard, who's lost both a brother and a nephew to drug addiction, spoke of the devastating impact substance abuse can have on families.
"I would not wish on anyone here the life of a family - or loved one - who is drug addicted," Howard said. "It is terror. It is trauma. It is pain."
County Executive Paul Farrow said the county is working to lower the number of people who overdose on drugs.
A county-wide study scanning different communities for overdose risks and protective factors is expected to be finished in roughly one month. Waukesha County is also offering free training sessions for civilians on how to administer the opiate reversal agent Naloxone.
There's a training session tonight, at 5 p.m., at the Waukesha County Mental Health Center.
"We can save one life today. But the ripple effect is that maybe we can save many lives down the road," Farrow said.
