Three Things To Read This Week
1. Narcan Is “Like Having A Fire Extinguisher: It’s There If You Need It, And You Hope You’ll Never Need It.”
There is a new study published in the prestigious Journal of American Medical Association, the findings of which “support expansion of access to naloxone to address opioid overdose crisis [and] refute the idea of naloxone as a moral hazard—that naloxone provision would lead to increased opioid use or overdose.”
Massachusetts declared overdose deaths a public health emergency, and issued a statewide, “standing order, which allowed pharmacies to dispense naloxone kits to any person at risk of experiencing an opioid-related overdose.” The researchers examined all of the 351 local jurisdictions across Massachusetts, comparing the differing levels at which the pharmacies dispensed Narcan in the wake of the standing order.
The results: “Community pharmacies dispensing of naloxone was associated with a significant decrease in opioid fatality rates compared with communities that did not implement the naloxone program.”
Fortunately, localities across the country are making Narcan more available—in schools and churches, bars and restaurants, in public transit stations and airlines, local vending machines and over the counter at pharmacies. As students head back to campus, though, this section focuses on the growing momentum for Narcan access at colleges and universities:
Most notably:
The state of Washington recently passed a law requiring “each public and private institution of higher education provide opioid and fentanyl prevention education and awareness information to all students.” This statewide shift comes as “the percentage of drug overdose deaths involving a synthetic opioid like fentanyl increased from 39% in 2020 to 76% in 2023.” Thus, as students returned to campus this fall, administrators are cementing “plans to get the distribution of fentanyl testing strips and Narcan” and “staff working in residence halls [are being] trained in administering the medication Narcan, known generically as naloxone, which can reverse potentially fatal opioid overdoses.”
The University of Arizona has also made “Narcan, available across campus” because it is easy to administer to someone who is overdosing[,] can swiftly reverse the effects of an opioid overdose and restore breathing and consciousness, [and] cannot injure someone it has been administered to if they have not ingested opioids.” The need for Narcan comes as “an increasing percentage of recreational drugs and fake pills are contaminated with fentanyl”; and thus, “having naloxone available is therefore increasingly important to address these concerns and protect our community.”
Starting this Fall semester at University of Southern California, in partnership with Los Angeles County, “N.O.P.E. [National Overdose Prevention and Education] installed cabinets stocked with Narcan in the USC on-campus fraternity Phi Sigma Kappa.” This pilot project is part of a growing effort across USC to make the life-saving opioid overdose reversal drug available to students and staff across campus. Dave Pratt, who leads N.O.P.E., explained why the university wants Narcan cabinets in the fraternity … “It’s like having a fire extinguisher: It’s there if you need it, and you hope you'll never need it.”
Last year, the University took a major step forward by announcing that it would make NARCAN available for free through university pharmacies. Explaining the initiative, USC’s Vice President, Dr. Susan Van Orman, explained: “Opioid overdoses are too common in both our community as well as in the overall city of Los Angeles … Anyone can get and carry Narcan in their room, in their car, in their backpack and potentially use it if they’re in a situation where they suspect somebody may be having an opioid overdose.”
2. In San Diego County, “Over 98% Of [Mental Health] Calls Have Been Diverted From Armed Law Enforcement, Resulting In A Trained Mobile Crisis Response Team Arriving Instead.”
For CBS News in San Diego, Richard Allyn reports on the remarkable success of the county’s mobile crisis response team program, which, “since launching three years ago… has now answered more than 13,000 mental-health calls… helped reduce the burden on law enforcement, and prevented San Diegans from falling into homelessness.” County Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer, a champion for the mobile crisis response program, explained to the news channel that since the program launched, “over 98% of calls have been diverted from armed law enforcement, resulting in a trained MCRT team arriving instead.”
The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that the teams, composed of “a mental health clinician, peer support specialist, and a case manager,” work “around the clock, seven days a week,” with county leaders having expanded their numbers over the years to what is now “nearly four dozen [teams,] countywide”—with new units “extending their reach to college campuses, a tribal community and, soon, grade schools, and Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton.”
County leaders explained to the newspaper that “law enforcement agencies ‘are excited about the mobile crisis response teams’ because [the teams] take the [mental health] calls and that way their officers can go out on police matters and not mental health crises.” Sgt. Anthony Molina, with the Chula Vista Police Department—one of the first law enforcement agencies in the county that embraced the mobile crisis response teams—explained that when a mental health call comes into the emergency dispatch center, it is diverted right away to the mobile crisis teams “so, an officer never even sees that call and that’s good, that’s the point—we’re really happy to have that resource.”
Related: “Los Angeles is expanding a program that sends mental health professionals instead of police” for people experiencing homelessness. For KTLA, Cameron Kiszla reports on Los Angeles County’s Crisis and Incident Response through Community-led Engagement team, or CIRCLE, which deploys mental health professionals to 911 calls for service related to people experiencing homelessness, more than doubling the team’s coverage area with an expansion to eight more cities across the county.
The expansion follows a year where the team responded to more than 14,000 calls that “placed hundreds into interim housing and permanent supportive housing, reconnected individuals back to their families… referred more than 1,000 individuals to mental and behavioral health services, and reversed opioid-related overdoses.” Mayor Karen Bass, a champion of the program, explained to the news station that the teams “are responding to the mental health crisis with solutions that are long-term and sustainable… [while] at the same time, freeing up our officers to fight crime.”
3. Crisis Stabilization Centers Opening Doors Around The Country.
New Missouri Crisis Stabilization Center “Provides Immediate Behavioral Health Intervention And Treatment, Rather Than Detention” For Youth. For KSHB, NBC’s local affiliate, Megan Abundism reports that historically, in Kansas City, “youth in need of mental health services… “are brought to the detention facility or admitted to a hospital” instead of receiving mental health care and treatment—but not anymore.
The county’s new Youth Crisis Stabilization Facility that opened this month is “a safe place young people can go when they experience a mental health crisis… [where they can stay] for 3 to 5 days… [and medical staff can] stabilize the emotional behavioral issues, work with the family, [and] with a case plan that will connect them to other services.”
Robert Sullivan, the director of the county’s Department of Corrections and a vocal supporter of the new Youth Crisis Stabilization Center, explained to local NPR radio station KCUR, that when law enforcement used to respond to a youth mental health crisis call for service, there weren’t a lot of options—they’d take them to a jail or emergency room where they couldn’t get adequate treatment, and the police officer “is still connected to that case and cannot get back on patrol."
But now, the new center will both give law enforcement officers a place to take youth in the throes of a mental health crisis that isn’t a jail, so they can get the treatment they need and “makes sure that we don’t have folks start to go down a path in the criminal justice system, that there’s a better path for them [and] to set youth up for success,” while also “allowing the law enforcement officer to get back on patrol” to focus on serious crimes.
Here are some images from inside the new facility, courtesy of KCUR, offering “an improvement from the steel bars or hospital gowns” of jails and emergency rooms:
Four More Crisis Stabilization Centers Launching:
In Georgia, officials in Gwinnett County, a suburb of Atlanta, are breaking ground on a “first-of-its-kind… 78,800-square-foot, three-story facility [with] a 30-bed inpatient stabilization unit and a 23-hour temporary observation day center” that will also offer “veteran care, family services, [and] workforce development programs,” Shannon Robinson reports for WSBTV.
In Ohio, a “24/7 mental health and addiction crisis center” in Mount Vernon “will provide crisis stabilization for adults and youth aged 12 and over” offering “rapid [medical] intervention … [instead of] waiting in jail or for a psychiatric bed,” Cheryl Splain reports for Knox Pages.
In Nebraska, officials in Sarpy County just outside of Omaha just opened the doors on a new crisis stabilization center that provides “care to people experiencing mental health crises, connects them with the services they need” to “help keep more of them out of the criminal justice system,” Joe Harris reports for WOWT.
In Washington, Skagit County broke ground this month on its new STAR Center which will provide first responders “a safe place to drop off community members in crisis who need acute mental health treatment and substance use detox” instead of “the emergency room, or to the jail.” The center’s services “cost less than a trip to the emergency room, and will seek to remedy the root causes of the challenges patients are facing,” Ava Ronning reports for the Skagit Valley Herald.
