A public memorial exhibit honoring people lost to fentanyl and the opioid crisis will be on display at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City this Thursday, open to visitors from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., with a formal memorial ceremony beginning at 3 p.m. The event, organized by The Black Poster Project, is one piece of a two-day flagship gathering in the city this Thursday and Friday tied to the fifth anniversary of National Fentanyl Prevention and Awareness Day, observed nationwide on August 21.
The Drug Enforcement Administration's New York division announced the event on social media, inviting the public to attend and noting its partnership with Facing Fentanyl and The Black Poster Project, according to DEANewYork. The agency's post also tagged the Department of Justice and DEA headquarters, and pointed attendees to facingfentanylnow.org for full event details. The DEA account clarified it does not collect comments or messages through the platform, directing questions elsewhere.
Facing Fentanyl's full New York City itinerary begins Thursday morning with an 11:30 a.m. military tribute at Duffy Square in Times Square, followed by a noon press conference featuring a billboard display on the TSX screen, according to a schedule posted on the Facing Fentanyl Facebook page. From there, organizers plan a procession from Grand Central Station to St. Patrick's Cathedral ahead of the afternoon memorial. U.S. Customs and Border Protection leadership and other federal law enforcement officials regularly join Facing Fentanyl's annual New York briefings to discuss international interdiction efforts alongside families who have lost loved ones, per Customs and Border Protection.
Grieving Parents Built These Organizations From Loss
Facing Fentanyl was founded by Andrea Thomas after her 32-year-old daughter, Ashley, died in 2018 from taking half of a counterfeit prescription pill laced with illicit fentanyl, according to Fox 5 New York. The Black Poster Project traces back to New Jersey mother Dee Gillen, who started the memorial effort following the 2015 fatal heroin and fentanyl overdose of her son, Scott, as reported by Jersey Shore Online. What began as a display of 50 posters in 2019 has grown into hundreds of memorial banners brought to schools, community centers, and public landmarks across New York and New Jersey, City Lifestyle notes.
National Fentanyl Prevention and Awareness Day was established in 2022 by Facing Fentanyl and receives annual unanimous U.S. Senate recognition through bipartisan resolutions led by Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Chuck Grassley, according to the Senate press office. This year's observance marks the fifth anniversary of that designation. The Drug Enforcement Administration also maintains a permanent Faces of Fentanyl wall exhibit at its Arlington, Virginia headquarters, displaying more than 6,400 submitted photos of overdose victims, the agency says.
Overdose Deaths Are Falling, But Fentanyl Still Dominates
The memorial arrives amid encouraging but incomplete news on the overdose crisis. Unintentional drug overdose deaths in New York City fell 28% in 2024 to 2,192 fatalities, down from 3,056 the year before, marking the city's first annual decline since 2018, according to the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Nationally, provisional CDC data released in 2025 showed U.S. drug overdose deaths dropped 25% year-over-year to 77,648 for the 12 months ending in March 2025.
Yet fentanyl's grip on the crisis hasn't loosened proportionally. Synthetic opioids accounted for nearly 92% of those national overdose deaths, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Locally, opioids — primarily synthetic fentanyl — were involved in roughly 78% of all fatal drug overdoses in New York City in 2025, according to the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor for the City of New York. That statistic underscores why organizers continue pairing federal interdiction messaging with the deeply personal poster memorials at events like Thursday's cathedral display.
Hoodline has previously covered grassroots memorial efforts following an overdose death, including a sea of love-stone hoops for a fallen fan, reflecting a broader pattern of communities turning personal loss into public awareness campaigns. Thursday's exhibit at St. Patrick's Cathedral is free and open to the public throughout the day, with the memorial ceremony scheduled for 3 p.m.
