Every August 31, International Overdose Awareness Day (IOAD) brings a global community together to take action on overdose.
This year the theme for IOAD is 25 Years On. Still Needed.

For 25 years, International Overdose Awareness Day has brought people together to remember those we’ve lost and to take action to save lives.

Overdose continues to affect every community. Yet it can be prevented. We know how to reduce risk and keep people safe. By collaborating openly with all sectors of society; learning from one another; and sharing best practices, up-to-date research and technology; and targeted public health alerts on emerging drug threats, we build a world where fewer lives are lost.

On this day, the Colombo Plan Drug Advisory Program (DAP) remains committed to share our expertise to help prevent and reduce overdose. Along with our internationally-renowned forensic lab partner, Center for Forensic Science Research and Education (CFSRE), CPDAP sponsors a number of programs designed to reduce overdose: a Sentinel program that detects emerging lethal drug threats entering a country for the first time; a QTOF program (named after a monel drug analysis technique) that identifies the composition of street drugs that drive overdose epidemics in communities; training for forensic lab chemists on the latest analytical techniques to detect lethal synthetic drugs and complex drug mixtures; a global forensic drug testing lab directors network that shares experiences on the detection and reporting of emerging drug threats; public health alerts (global, regional, and national) on emerging drug threats that will cause overdose and mechanisms to counteract overdose; support for various regional and international forums, webinars; and training that address overdose; to name a few.

 

In conclusion, CPDAP looks forward to working with our international partners (both public and private sector) to address overdose by helping to reduce the mortality (death) and morbidity (chronic, life-threatening long-term chronic health problems) resulting from today’s lethal synthetic drugs and dangerous drug mixtures.   

 

From July 14 – 16, Colombo Plan’s CEO, Thom Browne,  attended and presented at the combined CADCA’s 25th Mid-Year Annual Training Institute and the DEA’s Fentanyl-Free America Summit. This event was attended by over 3,000 community-based drug cocalitions, law enforcement, and public health agencies, in addition to participants from over 25 countries representing their national level drug-free community coalitions.

 

Attendees also included: Executive branch agencies: Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Department of Justice (acting Attorney General),  Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), and Legislative branch representatives: Senator Ashley Moody.

 

The Colombo Plan CEO provided a major plenary session for both co-events entitled: “Emerging Lethal Synthetic Drugs and Dangerous Drug Mixtures: The Wave of the Future and How We Should Respond.”  This presentation provided an overview of several Colombo Plan projects using state of the art technologies to test street drugs in the U.S. and numerous countries worldwide, uncovering hidden factors that drive overdose and chronic health problems in substance users, in addition to factors driving national-level drug epidemics. 

 

The presentation also provided concrete examples of newly emerging lethal synthetic drugs (e.g., nitazene & orphine compounds) causing overdose in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Southeast Asia; dangerous drug mixtures challenging the western hemisphere and Southeast Asia (Meth/MDMA/Ketamine mixtures and etomidate vaping); and lethal synthetic drug combinations (nitazene/cannabinoid mixtures) causing overdose death in western Africa, to name a few.

 

The presentation concluded with an overview on how Colombo Plan forensics programs provide early warning sessions and lessons-learned for all countries worldwide. For instance, in 2017 Colombo Plan and DEA Educational Foundation uncovered lethal “pink cocaine” mixtures of stimulants (meth, cocaine, MDMA) combined with hallucinogens (ketamine, LSD) causing death and serious health problems in Latin America. Lessons learned from addressing the effects of this dangerous drug combination were passed on to the United States and Southeast Asia eight years later when these lethal combinations began appearing in early 2025 in the U.S. and Southeast Asia. Likewise, Southeast Asia experience with etomidate vaping was passed on to the U.S. at this year’s CADCA/DEA Summits, as the U.S. (via the Colombo Plan/CFSRE Sentinel program) discovered etomidate mixtures in early 2026.