Latest news with #naloxone
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Health
- The Guardian
Proposed Republican cuts could undo opioid epidemic progress in Appalachia
For healthcare specialists around western Appalachia, the recent dramatic fall in opioid overdose deaths has been nothing short of spectacular. Last year saw a record decline of 30% in Kentucky to 1,410 people. In neighboring West Virginia, state health authorities estimate that there are at least 318 more people alive today due in large part to the availability and widespread use of naloxone or Narcan, a nasal spray that when administered in time, can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. Recent years have seen a spate of treatment and recovery programs help initiate a dramatic fall in the number of people dying from illicit drug overdoses. In Tennessee alone, authorities have attributed it to saving 'at least 103,000 lives' between late 2017 and mid-2024. 'It's working damn good. I knew six months ago that [the number of overdose deaths decreased] from the street,' says Chris Tucker, who works with the healthcare provider Pathways in north-eastern Kentucky. 'It's a good upswing from what it was two years ago. You see success stories every day. If people are putting a foot forward, that's a success.' But now, the White House and Republican politicians are proposing cuts to programs and departments that could undo that hard-fought progress. On 2 May, the Trump administration announced proposed cuts of $33.3bn to the health and human services department budget that would eliminate, among other programs, $56m used to train first responders and law enforcement officers how to administer Narcan. In March, the White House cut more than $11bn in federal grants for addiction, mental health and infectious disease projects and programs. The same month, it announced plans to subsume the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) into the newly created Administration for a Healthy America (AHA). SAMHSA lost more than 100 staff in March and is set for further cuts. House Republicans have been looking to cut funding for Medicaid, a program that provides communities with millions of dollars in opioid treatment and recovery funding, a move that Trump has recently warned against. Many of the proposed funding cuts are a part of the administration's 2026 fiscal year budget proposal, which starts on 1 July. 'We still saw nearly 90,000 people die from overdoses last year. We owe it to them to do better and to save lives. The answer cannot be to cut these programs,' says Hanna Sharif-Kazemi of the Drug Policy Alliance. Few other places in the US will see the effects of funding cuts felt more than in Appalachian communities. And few Appalachian communities have been hit as hard as Huntington, West Virginia, part of a region situated along the banks of the Ohio river that major drug manufacturers swamped with highly addictive painkillers such as Oxycontin in decades past. Huntington's Cabell county has the highest opioid overdose death rate in what for years has been the worst-hit state in the country. Nearby in Kentucky's Boyd county, its 31 drug-related deaths in 2019 were more than three times the national level, and the second highest of any county in the Commonwealth. Kyle Gibson, 37, grew up in neighboring Boyd county, Kentucky, in the late 1990s. 'The thing I am concerned about is access to treatment, because there's a big pool of funding that puts peer supports in places where they otherwise wouldn't be – hospitals, ERs, syringe exchanges all over the place,' says Gibson, the regional director at Path Behavioral Healthcare in Huntington, an organization providing mental and behavioral health treatment across five states. 'They are meeting people at their most vulnerable point in their lives, trying to give them direction. If that was cut, that would be detrimental.' Now in recovery, Gibson's journey into addiction was similar to many others in this area. He found the painkiller OxyContin in his grandmother's house when he was in high school, which led him on the road to methamphetamines, Suboxone and other substance addictions. 'That was at a time when [doctors] were really pushing [highly addictive opioid painkillers]. Doctor shopping was a thing. For 11 years, it got real bad,' he says. 'I went to treatment just so my mom could sleep at night.' When authorities clamped down on pill mills and pharmaceuticals more than a decade ago, in their place came heroin, then synthetic opioids fentanyl and more recently, carfentanyl. Health experts say the pandemic contributed to a rise in loneliness in many small, rural communities, which in turn fueled a further wave of opioid overdose deaths. Kentucky saw a 49% increase in overdose deaths from 2019 to 2020. Two years later, it still ranked among states with the highest per capita opioid overdose fatalities. So for those who've worked hard to develop recovery and treatment efforts across Kentucky, the recent budget cuts are a major blow. 'Reducing this funding not only undermines life-saving work, it contradicts the goal of achieving greater government efficiency. Pulling support now would not only stall momentum but set us back years in the great investments we have made,' says Tara Hyde of People Advocating Recovery, a Louisville-based non-profit. Experts say the benefits of reducing the number of people dying from overdoses include having more people in local workforces, reducing the load on already-struggling hospital emergency rooms and staff, and parents being alive, healthy and able to raise their children. 'This progress has created momentum helping to reduce stigma, because more people are showcasing the reality of recovery and speaking out to show that they are thriving in the workforce, going to school, or learning a trade,' says Hyde. In Huntington, a city that's lost close to half its residents since the 1950s, population decline has now slowed to a trickle, while household income levels are on the rise. Still this region, which encompasses a corner of Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia, locally known as 'KYOVA' and dissected by the slow-moving Ohio river, the recent successes don't mean that communities have entirely left addiction, and its associated ills – poverty, crime and mental health – behind. Outside the Harmony House shelter on Huntington's 4th Avenue, around a dozen people with their belongings – sleeping bags, clothes and bottles of water gathered up in shopping carts – bake in the early summer heat. 'We're used to adapting and overcoming,' says Gibson, whose offices are a couple of blocks away, 'one way or the other.'
CBS News
28-05-2025
- General
- CBS News
Denver gets more naloxone vending machines
People in Denver now have more access to naloxone, the medicine that reverses an opioid overdose. The Denver Police Department and nonprofit The Naloxone Project installed three vending machines that provide the lifesaving drug for free. CBS "It's really as simple as just opening the door, grabbing a kit, and giving someone a second chance at life," said Joshua Jacoves, Program Director at The Naloxone Project. This comes as Denver reports nearly 400 deaths from drug overdose in 2024, which is down about 21% compared to the year before. In 2023, the city saw more than 500 deaths – the majority from opioids. "Working in the ER, I know that every person who arrives after dying from an overdose, opioid overdose, is a death that did not need to happen," Dr. Don Stader, Executive Director of The Naloxone Project, said at a press conference Tuesday. "That's because we have an antidote that is easy to use and that can effectively reverse the effects of fentanyl or an opioid." Now, outside DPD Headquarters, Station 6 and Station 2, anyone can grab a box containing two doses of naloxone, also known as Narcan. "We understand that there are people who have substance misuse challenges, and we are really more concerned about saving people's lives than making arrests," said DPD Chief Ron Thomas when asked about hesitancy by users to go to a police station for naloxone. Since The Naloxone Project began its partnership with DPD about 18 months ago, Jacoves said the nonprofit has provided the department thousands of naloxone kits. First providing officers with the medicine so they could use it when responding to an overdose call, then as "leave behind kits" that officers could leave with people they believed could be at risk of an overdose, and now with the three vending machines. "Our first vending machine is at the Coalition for the Homeless, and we stock that at least twice a week," Jacoves said. "We have a dedicated coordinator and a network of volunteers that make sure that at all times there are kits in these machines." CBS While the nonprofit cannot track use of the kits and how many lives they've potentially saved, Jacoves said at minimum they've given more than 200 people a second chance at life. Still, the nonprofit is often questions if naloxone in free vending machines around the city is enabling drug use. "This is such a common misconception," explained Stader, "but we've done scientific studies, but also common sense, to inform us. Comparing naloxone to something that enables drug use is the same as labeling an AED as something that enables heart attacks, or an EpiPen as something that enables someone to get allergies. Naloxone enables one thing and one thing only, naloxone enables survival." Each dose costs about $25, but its ability to save a life is priceless to Stader. "People often ask that sustainability question -- how are you going to fund this? And I think from a public health perspective, there is nothing more effective than $25 to save a life," he said. "If someone has to be reversed from an overdose 100 times, that is still cheaper than one emergency department visit for an opioid overdose."
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Denver to install naloxone vending machines at police stations to combat overdose crisis
DENVER (KDVR) — A new tool in the fight against Colorado's overdose crisis is being installed outside three Denver Police Department locations. The city is partnering with The Naloxone Project and the Colorado Attorney General's Office to launch harm reduction vending machines that dispense free naloxone kits. Naloxone is a fast-acting medication that can reverse an opioid overdose. Arrest made in Littleton elder financial fraud case The first machines will be installed at police headquarters and two additional stations next week. The goal: make the overdose reversal drug accessible in areas where it's needed most. 'About two months ago, we started working with DPD again to further our partnership,' said Joshua Jacoves, Program Director of The Naloxone Project. 'We have that kit at headquarters by Civic Center because we see on Colfax, there are a lot of those overdoses occurring.' Each vending machine contains kits with intranasal naloxone and easy-to-follow instructions. The kits are free, no insurance or identification required. Jacoves noted that overdose deaths are continuing to rise across the state. 'Overdose deaths are happening everywhere across the country and in Colorado,' he said. '2024, we saw about a little over 80,000 people pass away from an opioid overdose in Colorado, and especially in Denver, the last data we saw in 2023 was that we had 600 Denver residents pass away from an overdose.' Some critics argue that distributing naloxone might encourage riskier drug use, but Jacoves pushed back on that claim, comparing the criticism to past resistance to public safety tools. 'Naloxone is very similar to a lot of these other big public safety efforts we've had in the US,' he said. 'Critics said the same thing about seat belts and said seat belts encourage dangerous driving. We are really again covering the city in a blanket of protection, to make sure that people aren't going to use a little riskier, because they're not, but they are going to have the antidote in case something happens.' The program's impact is already measurable. At a pilot machine installed in April, more than 1,000 kits have been taken in less than two months. 'Every single time myself, my coordinator, my intern, goes to restock… someone comes up to us and tells us a story about how naloxone saved their cousin's life, a brother's life, they saw someone reverse an overdose on the street across from where the machine was,' Jacoves said. FOX31 visited the pilot site this week, where nearly two-thirds of the machine's contents had already been taken. 'As you can see, this was restocked at 12 on Tuesday, and we are probably two thirds empty already,' said a representative during the site visit. Leaders said having police serve as the host sites sends a strong message. 'Having police here in Denver lead the way with this station effort, I think, shows the commitment of our side and the police side to keeping our city safe,' Jacoves said. Jokic makes All-NBA First Team, history upon history Officials in Aurora told FOX31 they are researching whether to implement similar machines. Meanwhile, the Naloxone Project said it's always looking for volunteers to help assemble the kits. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Independent
15-05-2025
- Health
- The Independent
Overdose deaths fell by 30,000 last year — declining in every state except two
Overdose deaths in the U.S. plummeted by nearly 30,000 year-on-year - the largest decline ever recorded. An estimated 80,391 people died from drugs in 2024, according to provisional Centers for Disease Control and prevention data. That marks a decrease of 27 percent from the 110,000 deaths reported in 2023. 'I would characterize this as a historically significant decrease in overdose deaths,' Brandon Marshall, a Brown University School of Public Health epidemiologist, told The Washington Post. 'We're really seeing decreases almost across the entire nation at this point.' Deaths fell in all states but two: Nevada and South Dakota. They declined in all major categories of drug use, including stimulants and opioids. The health agency credited President Donald Trump's actions during his first term, saying that Congressional support since 2017 has enabled it to expand critical data systems and strengthen overdose prevention capacity across all states. Notably, the overdose-reversing drug naloxone has become more widely available. 'These investments have empowered us to rapidly collect, analyze, and share actionable data — enabling communities to better understand the specific drivers of overdose in their area and tailor prevention strategies to meet their unique local needs,' the agency added. 'Since late 2023, overdose deaths have steadily declined each month — a strong sign that public health interventions are making a difference and having a meaningful impact.' However, overdose remains the leading cause of death for American adults between the ages of 18 to 44, the CDC noted, 'underscoring the need for ongoing efforts to maintain this progress.' Annual overdose deaths are still higher than they were before the Covid pandemic, and a recent study revealed that a quarter of children in the U.S. have at least one parent with a substance use disorder. The announcement also comes following major cuts to federal funding and research at the hand of the Trump administration, sparking concern among researchers. 'I don't see how it can be sustained, with the kinds of deep cuts that they're taking to many of the programs that have been driving these reductions,' Traci C. Green, an epidemiologist at Brandeis University, told The New York Times. 'Now is not the time to take the foot off the gas pedal,' Dr. Daniel Ciccarone, a drug policy expert at the University of California, San Francisco, said.
CTV News
15-05-2025
- Health
- CTV News
Toxic drug deaths in B.C. continue on downward trend
A naloxone kit is displayed in Vancouver, B.C., on Nov. 13, 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
