On September 7, 2025, under rainy skies at Robert Moses State Park on Long Island, the Trail of Truth movement marked its 10th anniversary with a moving beachside display of dozens of tombstone-like memorials. <\/p>\n
Started in 2016 as a memorial arts project in New York, the national initiative now spans the country, allowing grieving families to honor loved ones lost to substance use-related causes, particularly fentanyl poisoning.<\/p>\n
Participants walked the shore in the shadow of Fire Island Lighthouse, creating a visual \u201ccemetery\u201d that highlights the magnitude of the losses and fosters community healing.<\/p>\n
Mia Hause from Truth Pharm explained the project\u2019s origins and impact: \u201cIt\u2019s the 10th anniversary of the Trail of Truth. It\u2019s a memorial arts project that memorializes loved ones lost to substance use related causes started in New York and now it\u2019s all across the country.\u201d <\/p>\n
Local organizer Lori Carbonaro emphasized the event\u2019s dual role in remembrance and advocacy: \u201cWe are here an art installation of tombstones of people who have passed away due to substance use disorder. This is actually a celebration of these people\u2019s lives, and it\u2019s a gathering for us\u2014it heals us.\u201d <\/p>\n
Grief counselor Steve Chassman from LICAD addressed the local devastation: \u201cThese are Long Islanders that at one time walked these beaches. We\u2019ve lost over 1 million people. It\u2019s a shame we\u2019ve done so little so far.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grieving mothers shared raw emotions amid the rain-soaked procession. <\/p>\n
Katherine Shaw felt \u201coverwhelmed with the love that\u2019s out there\u201d seeing her son memorialized. Tara Weigl reflected on her son\u2019s tragic slip: \u201cOne time can kill. We\u2019re celebrating what should be his 32nd birthday, but it was robbed of it because of fentanyl.\u201d <\/p>\n
The Trail of Truth\u2019s core demands\u2014immediate treatment access, ending discrimination in medical care, increased naloxone distribution, and responsible opioid settlement fund allocation\u2014aim to reduce stigma and compel change. <\/p>\n
A larger national gathering is planned for Washington, D.C., on Sept. 27, uniting with other groups to amplify their message.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On September 7, 2025, under rainy skies at Robert Moses State Park on Long Island, the Trail of…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":209984,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,8429,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-209983","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-new-york-city","11":"tag-newyork","12":"tag-newyorkcity","13":"tag-ny","14":"tag-nyc","15":"tag-substance-abuse","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-united-states-of-america","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","20":"tag-us","21":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115168255958807977","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209983"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209983\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}