Naloxone Texas urging awareness, training, distribution of Narcan on college campuses
AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Health officials and government leaders have celebrated a recent decline in overdose-related deaths year-over-year. Still, they emphasize the need to continue harm reduction efforts and initiatives. That's why Naloxone Texas launched a new overdose prevention initiative at colleges and universities across the state this fall.
"The reason we decided to do that this year is, you know, in the past, we've worked with some colleges and universities that have kind of come to us and said we'd like to have Naloxone on campus. But we haven't had a systematic way of getting in touch with colleges, universities, community colleges, trade schools, any sort of higher education field," Dr. Tara Karns-Wright, Director of Naloxone Texas, said. "You know, there's Texas legislation that's available for certain industries or certain ages, like, K through 12 schools have to have Naloxone on campus, they have to have someone trained in overdose reversal. But there's not anything that really exists for higher education, and we know that this group is at risk."
Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that was released in February showed that there was a nearly 24% decline in drug overdose deaths in the United States for the 12 months ending in September 2024, compared to the previous year.
Still, overdose remains the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18-44.
Naloxone Texas, which is part of the Be Well Institute at the University of Texas at San Antonio, is a statewide initiative that aims to end the state’s overdose epidemic through medication distribution, public awareness, and workforce empowerment, according to its website. The program partners with 10 organizations across the state that act as regional distribution hubs; in Austin, that's Communities For Recovery.
Karns-Wright said overdose incidents can impact anyone at any time, not just people who struggle with addiction or substance abuse.
"That age group, specifically, and especially with college students, one of the things we're seeing is... other drugs that are contaminated with fentanyl," Karns-Wright said. "So someone may think that they're taking an Adderall, and in reality, it is something that's been illicitly manufactured, and there's fentanyl in it. And so that's why it's so important, we always try to prepare folks. You know, it's not that like you're giving your friends permission to do drugs in front of you, so you have this, this Naloxone on hand, it's that people don't even realize what they're taking."
Karns-Wright said that though there is a downward trend in overdose-related deaths, now is as important a time as ever to keep raising awareness, increasing harm reduction efforts, and distributing naloxone, which can save the life of someone experiencing an overdose.
"We're excited to see that downward trend this past year, but from a public health perspective, we'd like to see that trend happen for a couple of years in a row before we say officially, you know, yes, thank goodness overdose deaths are going down," she said. "But we do think that programs like this and others that exist are helping... So we want to keep that going and hope that we truly are reducing the number of people who are dying from overdoses. You know, it's a crucial time of year with back-to-school happening."
Naloxone Texas offers free naloxone and training, and can provide bulk naloxone orders and tailored training programs for organizations.
The program had an informational booth at Huston-Tillotson University on Tuesday to raise awareness and hand out free naloxone kits.
Zhi Wallace, a junior at Huston-Tillotson, picked up a kit Tuesday. She said it's important for her to carry around naloxone "just in case."
"I feel like you never know what kind of situation you'll run into, especially in Austin, Texas, where there's a big drug usage," Wallace said. "Just because you might not think you might not be in that situation doesn't mean that you might not come around to it. So even if there's a zero percent chance that you're walking into, let's say a university or anywhere else, and you're not going to run into it... just in case."