Jamestown Community College and Evergreen Health teamed up to observe International Overdose Awareness Day on Thursday by screening the documentary, “Heroin: Cape Cod USA,” a film that follows eight individuals in their 20s through heroin addiction. Pictured is one of the people profiled in the documentary, Arianna, who relapsed into addiction and later died from overdose at the age of 23.

Where a person once stood in the middle of the lives of many, there is now a gap.

Nothing fills the gaping hole left behind when a loved one dies of overdose, which was evident at the event observing International Overdose Awareness Day on Thursday night. Friends, families and community members gathered at Jamestown Community College to watch a film based on something they had already lived through: heroin addiction.

It may not have been them who were addicted, but they felt the aftershock of watching their loved one in the vice-like grip of addiction that led to overdose. The film, “Heroin: Cape Cod USA” is a documentary that follows eight individuals through their addiction, showing the individuals shooting up, attempting to get clean and often times, relapsing. The film is filled with the laments of those who are addicted, and the pain of the ongoing cycle.

For Arianna, a young woman with children, her last relapse killed her. She overdosed at the age of 23.

According to the film, opiate related overdose deaths have quadrupled since 2001 in the U.S.

According to OverdoseDay.com, the website of International Overdose Awareness Day, 43,982 people die in the United States every year from drug overdose, with an average of 120 deaths per day. In comparison, the National Archives has a record of 58,220 U.S. military fatal casualties during the Vietnam War, which spanned from 1955-1975.

Daniel, another individual in the film, discussed his drug use and questioned what makes him use heroin. He said he used to dream of being a professional hockey player. However, in one sequence during the film, Daniel’s comments are juxtaposed with scenes of him and his girlfriend “shooting up.” Day after day, he wakes up to go find drugs to get high and repeats it all endlessly.

“I don’t expect anything to be different,” Daniel said. “I pray every day I could wake up and say ‘I’m done.’ Your lowest low has a trap door below it.”

After the film, attendees gathered outside to remember their loved ones. The Rev. Tara Lamont Eastman played a selection of songs in honor of the event, and Autumn Echo, local poet, recited a poem she wrote about a loved one who overdosed.

“Ask me about pain — and I will tell you it’s the only feeling I cannot describe,” Echo said. “I will speak of the poison and it’s grip on our lovers and children. I will scream for the horizon to bring back the song in him — I will tug at the edge of longing and shake it awake, day after day. You understand me when I say poison has a firm grasp on the puppet strings of our babies.”

Ian Eastman, Evergreen Health syringe exchange program coordinator, said the film gave attendees a hard but truthful look at what drug addiction is.

“It’s a very powerful film because many of us aren’t used to seeing drug use and addiction that closely,” Eastman said. “Of course, it’s a very somber mood following the film, but at the same time, it was also inspiring to see everybody here tonight (who) continues to work for new solutions, to continue to reduce stigma about treatment and to want to work together to save lives.”

Eastman said the closest thing the current heroin epidemic can be compared to is the peak of the AIDS epidemic in the ’90s.

“That’s about where we’re at right now,” he said. “We can take hope that people brought public health strategies front and center, and we’re able to reduce those infections and try new treatments (now). It’s the same thing with the opioid epidemic that we can do those same sorts of approaches for data-driven type treatments.”

Eastman said the syringe exchange program saves approximately one life a week.

“Probably in any given month, we work with about 200 different individuals,” he said. “The idea behind the exchange is that we engage people in their health care at an earlier stage in the process. That means teaching them how to prevent overdose, helping them against HIV infections (and) Hepatitis C infections. What the World Health Organization has found is that injectors of drugs that use syringe exchange programs are much more likely to go into treatment programs.”

Eastman said part of the thinking behind that is that users are being engaged and are thinking about their health earlier than they traditionally would.

“We can be a bridge to other services like special medical care and drug treatment programs,” he said.

Another reason Eastman said he had hope following Thursday’s event because 55 students from JCC attended a resource fair to learn about addiction-related services in the community on International Overdose Awareness Day. The students participated in a service project for Chautauqua Alcohol and Substance Abuse Council by putting together drug deactivation bags, which are bags that medication can be placed in when no longer needed and the bags will neutralize it.

“That’s important because a lot of people, before they ever use what we would call ‘street drugs,’ are using or misusing a legitimate prescription,” Eastman said. “Being able to dispose of that when people are done with medications is a really important thing.”

Another 28 people from JCC and the community attended a Narcan training, which is a drug that can potentially reverse an overdose.

If someone is addicted and is looking for help, Eastman said they should visit the exchange located at 31 Water St. at door No. 14. The exchange is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and no appointment is needed.

For more information on Evergreen Health or International Overdose Awareness Day, visit www.evergreenhs.org or call 847-2441.