On Overdose Awareness Day, A Mother's Plea For Policy Change

On Overdose Awareness Day, A Mother’s Plea For Policy Change

By Maia Szalavitz

Marilee Murphy Odendahl wants you to know a few things about her son, Ian. "He was marvelously funny, loyal, extremely intelligent and a really good observer of human behavior, so much that you wouldn't necessarily like to be the focus of it. He loved music and played guitar. He was my joy." She also wants you to know that Ian Murphy Mitchard died on Sept. 27, 2007, three days after his 28th birthday, of a heroin overdose.

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