Event held in Glasgow to bring awareness for addiction and overdose

GLASGOW, Ky. – Tuesday was International Overdose Awareness Day and a local rehabilitation center hosted a gathering in Glasgow to help bring awareness to the area.

The event, originally scheduled for Tuesday, was rained out and rescheduled for Thursday.

Drugs and alcohol addiction is a problem sweeping the nation right now.

One man, Jimmy Vibbert, used to do drugs with a group of people and was in rehab when four of his friends died at the same time of an overdose.

“Brad got a call from my wife and told me that four of them had overdose on bad fentanyl which is bad in this area now and everyone’s busy and it’s killing people so I’m checking in to let you know that I would’ve been there that could’ve been me and my wife and my daughter would’ve been without a husband and father,” said Vibbert.

Vibbert has sense continued his treatment and is now the leader of Celebrate Recovery in Glasgow.

He said a major reason he stays clean is for his now 14-year-old daughter.

“I’ve got a daughter that needs me, and I will do everything in my power to never go back down that road for my wife and my daughter,” said Vibbert.

Another former drug addict, Brandon Riddle, knew many people who died of an overdose. One was very close to him.

“He was somebody I could always count on to be able to talk to and he would listen, and he was one of the most kindhearted people I’ve ever met in my life. And I just hate to think that a brief struggle, a blink of an eye in the whole grand scheme of things, is an adequate amount for someone to be judged,” said Riddle.

Brightview, an addiction treatment center in Barren County, hosted the event and hopes people will seek treatment.

“Let the community be aware of the problem and where they can go and where they can send individuals to get help so we write you believe if someone wants help with their addiction, they can get it today at Brightview,” said Christy Sponhouse with Brightview.

The mayor of Glasgow alongside the Barren County judge executive sighed a proclamation honoring those who have suffered the impacts of overdose.