Local organization aims to host monthly Narcan giveaways

Local organization Recover Out Loud Harm Reduction and Recovery Services hosted a pop-up Narcan distribution event Tuesday at Capaha Park.

Director Kristi Booth, who started Recover Out Loud with recovered drug users to give back to the community, said the event was “spur of the moment.”

“There was a need in the community,” Booth said. “There were three overdoses, so we just decided to kind of do a pop-up (event) and try to get the word out so people could come get some.

“Evidently, there is Xanax in the community that has fentanyl in it. So you have people who aren’t used to taking opioids taking a Xanax and then they’re overdosing because their body is opioid naive so their body is not used to it.”

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Narcan, the brand name for the drug Naloxone, is a medication designed to “rapidly reverse opioid overdose.” Narcan can quickly restore normal respiration to someone whose breathing has slowed or stopped because of an overdose of heroin or prescription opioids.

Sgt. Joey Hann, Cape Girardeau Police Department public information officer, said Narcan is legal to distribute since it’s not a controlled substance.

Booth said Recover Out Loud was distributing small bags — each containing two doses of Narcan, instructions for use, information on how to spot an overdose, a face guard and gloves — at Capaha Park. The bag also contains information about Missouri’s Good Samaritan law, which protects people from minor drug and alcohol violations in the event they experience or witness a drug or alcohol-related overdose.

A Recover Out Loud flyer advertising a distribution on Narcan on Jan. 23 in Marble Hill, Missouri.Submitted

“If they’re high on drugs, or if they have drugs on them, they’ll be afraid to call 911,” Booth said. “The Good Samaritan law covers all of that, so they can’t be charged. And it’s for people to be able to call 911 and not worry about, you know, getting another charge of having drugs on them, or just being involved with drugs.

“The only thing it doesn’t cover is an active warrant.”

Booth hopes to be able to host at least one Narcan distribution event per month. Recover Out Loud’s next event is from noon to 3 p.m. Jan. 23 in Marble Hill, Missouri.

“We want to get in the rural areas, because the education value of the event itself helps out,” Booth said. “People don’t know about Narcan, or people don’t know that you know fentanyl can be in other things, not just heroin.”

According to battalion chief Dustin Koerber, the Cape Girardeau Fire Department responded to 82 overdose calls in 2020.

“Some of these (overdoses) aren’t getting reported,” Booth said. “That’s one thing that we like to focus on. We want to get the Narcan in the hands of the people who are using, because they’re the ones who are going to save their friends’ lives.”

Ultimately, Booth hopes Recover Out Loud can help break the stigma many people hold against drug users.

“Those people are somebody’s daughter, somebody’s son, somebody’s father, mother,” Booth said, “I mean, they’re people. I was one of those people, and I try to give back to my community.

“I couldn’t imagine using drugs now, where, you know, they’re losing their friends left and right. I mean, they’re people, and just because, and I truly believe this, like, just because something is illegal does not make the person who’s using it immoral or bad. It just makes them addicted to a substance.”

For more information about Recover Out Loud, visit its Facebook page at www.facebook.com/showmerecovery.