LOS ANGELES — In the sweltering heat, activist Soma Snakeoil gripped the microphone and led the crowd outside Los Angeles City Hall in a chant.
"They talk! We die!" the crowd shouted. "They talk! We die!"
It was International Overdose Awareness Day and dozens of people had gathered downtown to mourn and rage, lighting candles, laying down roses and planting purple flags in the City Hall lawn to remember the dead. At the microphone, harm reduction advocates demanded government action and investment in stopping overdose deaths as the annual toll has exceeded 10,000 statewide.
