“Narcandoit” is a student-run organization created by recent graduates, with the goal of spreading awareness of Narcan’s effectiveness in stopping overdoses. Narcandoit also aims to destigmatize overdoses.
Narcan is an emergency-administered medicine that works quickly to reverse opioid overdoses. Narcan is effective for opioid overdoses including heroin, fentanyl, oxycodone, cocaine and morphine. Narcan’s effectiveness in reversing an overdose is reported to be 75-100%, according to the National Library of Medicine.
Carson Sarver, Megan Handle and Kennedy Huntsman, recent graduates of Ohio University, worked on what was originally a Young Leaders Civic Action Program project. They are continuing their efforts to spread awareness of Narcan’s effectiveness.
“Getting individuals from Athens County to be more aware of options and harm reduction resources,” Sarver said. “As well as just (destigmatizing) the whole culture around overdosing, individuals who use substance, destigmatizing that.”
In 2024 alone, Athen’s Deaths Avoided with Naloxone has recorded six overdose deaths and 53 reported overdose reversals. This is less deaths than the previous year, when DAWN recorded 118 overdose reversals and 19 deaths.
Narcandoit’s current goal is to get Narcan in Athens bars as a preemptive safety measure in case of overdose. The organization spoke with bar owners last semester, however, graduation put a halt to plans.
Narcan implementation into the bars would be free on Narcandoit’s behalf and provided by the Athens Health Department.
“The Narcan hasn’t officially been in bars yet, but hopefully by the end of this semester, we’ll be able to kind of get more contacts and actually have that come to fruition,” Sarver said.
Regarding safety and education with the increased access to Narcan, Narcandoit has worked with the Office of Health promotions to implement a training program to administer the syringe of Narcan.
“If there was a need and they had to grab resources for any of the five locations on campus, they would be able to know how to administer it,” Sarver said.
In recent years, the Office of Health Promotions has also worked on getting naloxone kits distributed throughout the campus. Associate Director of Prevention and Education in the office of health promotions Ann Brandon spoke about this initiative.
“We established some protocols and some policies to ensure that there were spaces on our campus that if somebody was having an emergency or an overdose, that we could save lives,” she said.
There are five areas on campus with these boxes that include Narcan, these areas include; Alden Library on the second floor, to the right of the help desk; Baker Center on the fourth floor to the right of the conferences and event services desk; The District, near the right swipe in kiosk; Nelson Court, outside the single user restroom; and Ping Recreation Center, on the first floor near the staircase.
“There’s two boxes and a kit, there’s two nasal sprays per kit,” Brandon said.
Simple instructions to administer the Narcan are included in these boxes. Unfortunately, the scope of illicit drugs is shifting and constantly changing.
“If it’s fentanyl or an opioid, that’s what Narcan responds to and reverses,” Brandon said. “But if there’s other drugs in there, such as ketamine, it’s not going to have the same effect.”
Narcan is unharmful if accidentally administered to an individual who may not be overdosing.
The office of health promotions has also moved to purchase fentanyl test strips for students to come and obtain.
“‘Fentanyl,’ the health department says, at this point, is in every drug.’” Rebecca Miller, Executive Director of Community Relations and Engagement, said.
Miller also works heavily with Athens Helping Overcome substance use Disorder through Prevention and Education.
Athens HOPE, an organization founded in 2017 to support affected people, also has an emphasis on destigmatizing substance use.
“We also have a real strong focus on stigma reduction around substance use disorder and recovery,” Miller said.
Athens HOPE helps those with substance use disorder and supports recovery.
“Supporting workforce development initiatives for people who are in recovery,” Miller said.
With over 200 members, Athens HOPE is a host to a diverse group. HOPE helps people dealing with different facets of substance use disorder, Miller discussed.
“We have people who are in recovery themselves,“ Miller said. "We have family members of people who have been impacted, people who have been impacted by substance use."
Making Narcan and fentanyl testing strips easily accessible to students and citizens of Athens is essential to harm reduction.
Miller discussed why it’s important for people to know about these harm-reduction resources.
“I think that there's a whole other population of people who don’t understand the prevalence of fentanyl and don’t understand the need for Naloxone,” she said.
Narcandoit’s Instagram bio says, “Save a life and stop an overdose,” expressing the importance of Narcan, its important harm reduction tendencies and spreading awareness.
