Boston Holds Interfaith Overdose Awareness Vigil at City Hall Ahead of August 31

BOSTON — July 22, 2026 — Boston City Hall hosts interfaith vigil for International Overdose Awareness Day, with Mayor Janey citing 93,000 U.S. overdose deaths. Mayor Kim Janey, who publicly disclosed that she lost her uncle to overdose in the 1980s, joined Jennifer Tracy, Director of the Mayor's Office of Recovery Services, and faith leaders from five Boston congregations for the annual gathering on July 22. Janey announced that City Hall will be lit purple on August 31 and cited a preliminary state report showing 1,038 fatal opioid overdoses in Massachusetts in the first half of 2021, down 5 percent from the same period the prior year. The city's outreach team reverses an average of four to five overdoses daily, she said. Imam Farouk of the Mosque for Praising Allah, while offering prayer, voiced direct opposition to proposed marijuana dispensaries near Dudley Station, saying the plan "leads to other things." Boston City Councilors Frank Baker, Ed Flynn, and Julia Mejia, along with State Representative Adrian Madero, chair of the Statehouse Mental Health Substance Use and Recovery Committee, were recognized from the podium.