The Colorado Springs Fire Department has announced a new program offering free doses of the opioid overdose reversal drug naloxone, commonly known by the brand name Narcan.
“Narcan Leave Behind,” was announced Monday on the department’s Facebook page. A supply of more than a thousand doses of Narcan was provided to CSFD through a Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment fund created by the state legislature.
“First responders will leave a box containing two doses of Narcan along with an information sheet at any location with a high risk of overdose from opioids,” the announcement on Facebook reads. Doses will also be distributed among responding fire department crews, community medicine units and local public health units.
A recently released annual report from the El Paso County Coroner's Office said that 94 percent of drug-related deaths occurred before the patient could be transported to the hospital.
“The goal is for this project to help save lives and put Narcan in the hands of those who may need it but not have it readily available,” the department said.
The statewide Narcan fund is in its sixth year of operation and doses have been distributed to 500 eligible entities across the state, according to the latest report on the program. Those entities range from law enforcement agencies to schools to local governments. Hospitals, pharmacies and other health care institutions are typically not considered eligible for the program.
Doses also find their way to so-called “harm reduction” agencies, which often also provide free syringes to users of drugs. Two such agencies in Pueblo have made headlines in recent months after the city council voted to ban the syringe access component of their services. That decision has been paused while a lawsuit by the Colorado chapter of the ACLU works its way through the courts.
