Nonprofit Solutions Oriented Addiction Response West Virginia co-founder Sarah Stone prepares items for the first-ever Appalachian Save a Life Day naloxone distribution event on Monday, Sept. 11, 2023, at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Charleston in Charleston, W.Va. (AP Photo/Leah Willingham)
The first-ever “Appalachian Save a Life Day” comes Thursday, on the heels of the approval of Narcan as drug that can be purchased over the counter for nonprescription use — a long-awaited victory towards normalizing and improving access to the decades-old, live-saving medication.
More than 30,000 doses of naxolone, or Narcan, are being distributed in 13 states. Community organizations will then offer the drug for free at convenient locations like fast food restaurants, Walmarts, health departments, churches, convenience stores and fire departments.
More than 180 counties are participating at more than 300 different sites. The events are a celebration of what advocates have been working toward for years.
In 1971, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved use of naloxone, also referred to by its brand name “Narcan,” to treat overdoses. However, its use was confined to paramedics and hospitals. Narcan nasal spray was first approved by the FDA in 2015 as a prescription drug, and in March, it was approved for over-the-counter sales and started being available this month at major pharmacies for a suggested price of around $50 for two doses.
“It kind of gives you chills a little bit when you think about it, just because it's this huge group of people coming together — and you don’t even know most of them — all because we deeply care about the same issue,” said Caroline Wilson, a social worker and person in recovery who organized Save a Life Day events in West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle.
Spearheaded by the Charleston-based nonprofit Solutions-Oriented Drug Response, “Save a Life Day” began as a two-county pilot program in 2020 in West Virginia, expanding to 17 counties in-state in 2021. Last year, all 55 counties in the state with the nation's highest rate of opioid overdoses in the nation participated. The 2023 event has expanded to include Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.
The state of West Virginia dedicated $600,000 to this year's effort. West Virginia’s Office of Drug Control Policy and the University of Charleston Pharmacy School have supplied naloxone for West Virginia’s events since its inception in 2020.
Solutions-Oriented Drug Response co-founder Sarah Stone said even in the last five years, she's seen a major shift in the way people are talking about naloxone.
“I would say five years ago, people would easily say, ’Let people die, I would step over this person before I would offer assistance,' or my personal favorite is: ’We can Narcan him three times, but not the fourth — there’s a limit,'" she said. "And you just don’t hear those things anymore, or not often.”
Braden Hopkins, a 20-year-old student at the University of Alabama, has been pushing for more naloxone and fentanyl test strip training and access within Greek life and other organizations. She's invited medical professionals to her sorority for training and wants to see it normalized to the point where at least one person in every Greek life house is Narcan-trained.
Hopkins, who is vice president of the school's chapter of Students for Sensible Drug Policy, said most of her peers don't know what it is — a concerning thought at a school with a significant party culture, she said.
“People just don't know how to have conversations about drugs and alcohol use,” said Hopkins, who will be tabling on the school’s quad distributing resources, test strips and doing HIV-testing outreach as part of Save a Life Day.
Harm Reduction Ohio, the largest distributor of naloxone in the state of Ohio, praised the greater availability of the drug but voiced concerns that the cost could prohibit those who need it most from getting it.
“I think over-the-counter is going to do a lot to decrease the stigma to when people see on a shelf, but $45 to $50, a dose is not going to help people who use drugs,” said AmandaLynn Reese, the organization's chief program officer. “What we really need to do is make sure we are targeting the areas that need it.”
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Illinois State Senator Robert Martwick joins Cheddar News to discuss the new bill he co-sponsored allowing students in the state to take 5 mental health days without a doctor's note.
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New York Attorney General Letitia James is ramping up a civil investigation into The Trump Organization. The AG's office has subpoenaed Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr. They have refused to comply with the subpoenas. Bradley Moss, national security attorney, joins Cheddar News to discuss the next steps in this investigation.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis has officially reduced the 110-year prison sentence of truck driver Rogel Aguilera-Mederos to 10 years, calling the initial lengthy sentence “unjust.” Dan Gilleon, constitutional attorney at Gilleon Law Firm APC, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
Former Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams was sworn in as the newest Mayor of New York City. Adams is now expected to work on a number of issues such as crime and coronavirus. Erin Durkin,, reporter at PoliticoNY, joins Cheddar News to discuss more.
California's new composting law will affect what residents do in their kitchens. As of this week, Californians will have to recycle excess food in an effort to reduce emissions caused by food waste. Cities and counties will turn recycled food into compost or use it as a renewable energy source. California's new law is the largest mandatory residential food waste recycling program in the country. Rachel Wagoner, Director of the California Department of Resources, Recycling and Recovery called the law 'the biggest change to trash' since recycling started in the 1980s. She joined Cheddar Climate to discuss.
As the U.S. comes up on the first anniversary of the January 6 insurrection.,A.C. Thompson, investigative reporter at ProPublica, joined Cheddar's Baker Machado to discuss updates to American Insurrection by FRONTLINE, ProPublica and Berkeley Journalism’s Investigative Reporting Program. The documentary investigates the attack on the Capitol touched off by the lie that the presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump but with new information gleaned since the event including interviews with lawmakers and law enforcement and the evolution of groups like the Boogaloo Boys and the Proud Boys behind the attack. "In some ways those groups that were kind of the vanguard of January 6 are maybe no longer relevant because their message is everywhere," he said.
