Olympia overdose awareness event highlights Naloxone’s life-saving role

No matter where she goes, Michelle Karrer always carries a little blue bag that can save her son’s life.

The habit started after her son survived a heroin overdose. Inside that blue bag is a needle and a drug called Naloxone, which can reverse the effects of an opiate overdose and potentially bring someone back to life within minutes.

“I have one in my house and on me all the time,” she said.

The Olympia woman said her son’s addiction began with powerful painkillers that were prescribed after a traumatic injury.

His addiction defies the stereotype of a back-alley drug user, said Karrer, noting that her son had been living at home when he overdosed.

Karrer was among those who attended an International Overdose Awareness Day event Wednesday at the Artesian Commons in downtown Olympia.

Sponsored by advocacy group VOCAL Washington, the event called attention to the nearly 600 people in the state who die every year from drug overdoses. Volunteers posted white crosses along one of the park’s walls to represent each of the deaths.

The crosses were then placed in a casket and carried in a procession to City Hall. Among the symbolic pallbearers was Olympia City Councilman Clark Gilman, who praised event organizers for shining a light on a topic that’s typically hushed and leaves opiate users feeling stigmatized.

“The value of this day is that we’re public and we’re talking,” Gilman said. “This is an epidemic in our community.”

One way to reduce the number of overdose deaths is through Naloxone, also known by the name-brand Narcan, which reverses respiratory and central nervous system depression.

Thurston County Public Health and Social Services Department’s syringe exchange program began distributing free Naloxone kits in February. Each kit contains two doses of Naloxone, along with two syringes and instructions for injecting it into a muscle. The drug also comes in a nasal spray.

Program coordinator Malika Lamont said that since February, 43 of the 300-plus kits have saved someone’s life in Olympia. She said Naloxone is a legal prescription drug that can be covered by health insurance.

She said the state’s “Good Samaritan Law” protects anyone from legal liability when reviving a person through a Naloxone injection or a similar life-saving attempt during an opiate overdose.

“People don’t call for help because they’re afraid of being arrested,” Lamont said.

The Emma Goldman Youth and Homeless Outreach Project distributes free Naloxone kits in Thurston County and was represented at Wednesday’s event. Outreach worker Lauren Gabrielle recommends a kit for anyone who uses opiates — or knows someone who does.

“It’s better to have it and never need it,” she said, “than to need it and not have it.”

The state Department of Health reports that from 2011-13, the annual rate of opiate overdose-related deaths in Thurston County was 7.4 per 100,000 deaths. The state average is 9 per 100,000 deaths.

This story was originally published August 31, 2016 at 5:59 PM with the headline "Olympia overdose awareness event highlights Naloxone’s life-saving role."