Metro Nashville Police Department handed out kits for Narcan, medicine that can treat drug overdoses in emergency situations, to about 40 homeless people on Monday in response to a spike in overdoses on Sunday and Monday.
Detectives are investigating the overdose spike, according to an MNPD press release. In only one incident downtown, eight individuals overdosed together, causing two fatalities while the other six were revived with Narcan.
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Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne announced the creation of a new Arizona Department of Education (ADE) task force to educate students about the dangers posed by the synthetic opioid fentanyl and provide emergency Narcan for school staff to reverse potentially fatal overdoses.
Horne announced the formation of the School Training Overdose Preparedness and Intelligence Taskforce (STOP-IT) on Tuesday, revealing the new effort will educate children about the dangers of fentanyl and other opioids while providing schools with resources to save lives.
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Last month, a powerful tornado swept through parts of Tennessee.
Seven people lost their lives. Property was destroyed. The daily routine for many of us was put on hold as we nervously sought shelter out of harm’s way.
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All Phoenix public libraries will have free Naloxone kits available as part of a city-wide program to help decrease fentanyl and opioid overdoses.
Naloxone, branded as Narcan, is a fast-acting medication that can reverse the effects of opioid overdoses. In 2022, 991 people died of an overdose in Phoenix, accounting for more than half of all overdose deaths in Maricopa County, according to an Aug. 14 news release.
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An increasing number of restaurants and bars across the country are keeping a stock of Naloxone, an antidote to fentanyl and opioid overdoses, according to The New York Times.
Local officials and nonprofit organizations are ramping up efforts to more bars and restaurants as overdoses become all too common in public spaces, according to the NYT. Between February 2022 and February 2023, there were more than 105,000 reported drug overdoses in the U.S., according to provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
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Wisconsin’s public health managers are once again looking to spend most of their latest round of opioid settlement money on Narcan and new buildings.
The Department of Health Services on Wednesday released its proposal for $8 million worth of opioid settlement cash.
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A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel unanimously voted to recommend the agency approve Narcan, a life-saving drug for opioid overdoses, be made available to purchase over the counter without a prescription.
Narcan is accessible for free and low cost online, through a range of community organizations, and through pharmacies with and without a prescription and with or without insurance.
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Teva Pharmaceuticals, one of the world’s largest generic drug manufacturer, has reached an agreement in principle to settle all outstanding lawsuits over their alleged involvement in the national opioid crisis for $4.35 billion, according to a Teva press release.
This payout includes a commitment to supply $1.2 billion worth of Narcan, a drug that reverses opioid overdose, over the next ten years, the release states. The $4.25 billion will be distributed over the next 13 years, with $100 million being earmarked for Native American Tribes.
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Racine County, Wisconsin has begun distributing fentanyl tests to the public in the county’s “continued efforts to battle the opioid epidemic and prevent overdose deaths.”
Officials have discovered a disturbing trend with street narcotics in the community, with Racine County’s Outpatient Clinic Manager Pauline Ortloff expressing in a statement, “Many narcotics are laced with deadly fentanyl, and users have no idea that what they are ingesting may be lethal. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that can be 80-100 times stronger than morphine. The purpose of fentanyl test strips is to allow the user to test the substance before using it to determine if fentanyl is present.”
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In conjunction with Franklin County, the city of Columbus is inviting opioid-addicted residents to order free naloxone, also known as Narcan, to help them reverse overdoses.
“Narcan distribution is part of our comprehensive programming to address the addiction crisis – and it is highly effective,” Columbus’ Director of Communications Kelli Newman told The Ohio Star. “Last year, through the Columbus & Franklin County Addiction Plan, we provided 24,144 Narcan kits (48,244 doses) and conducted 624 community trainings. As a result of Narcan being dispensed by bystanders, friends and family members, there were 3,699 overdose reversals in our community last year. Simply put, Narcan saves lives.”
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