DEREK REDD Managing Editor
Photo by Derek Redd
Small purple flags fly at Heritage Port in Wheeling, recognizing those in the Northern District of West Virginia who have died from overdose. An average of 300 people die annually from drug overdoses, and one flag was placed for each of those deaths.
Hundreds of small purple flags fluttered in the spring breeze at Heritage Port on Tuesday. It was a reminder to those who walked past them of the hundreds of deaths from drug overdose seen annually in the Northern District of West Virginia.
The flags were placed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Northern District of West Virginia, with help from Wheeling city officials. Other groups of flags were placed in Martinsburg, Bridgeport, Elkins and Morgantown. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Northern District, in the district’s 32 counties, an average of 300 people each year die from drug overdoses.