NEW ORLEANS — The Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office says they will start giving overdose-reversing medicines to people leaving the Orleans Justice Center.
With help from community organizations, the Sheriff’s Office will distribute 2,000 doses of Kloxxado, an 8-milligram nasal spray version of the overdose-reversing naloxone, to released inmates. The Sheriff’s Office says they are one of the first departments to do this.
This naloxone distribution program is led by public health scholar David Howard Sinkman, who is the former Opioid Coordinator and Civil Rights Coordinator for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana.
“This naloxone program will save lives, and New Orleans can be a model for jails and prisons in Louisiana and across the country to provide a proven and safe overdose medicine to those who need it,” Sinkman said.
A spokesperson says Sinkman is also working with the NAACP and churches in New Orleans and Baton Rouge to provide naloxone.
The Sheriff’s Office says Hikma Pharmaceuticals donated the 2,000 doses to the Formerly Incarcerated Transitions (FIT) Clinic through grassroots organization Voice of the Experienced (VOTE). They then turned the supply over to the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office with approval from Sheriff Susan Hutson.
“We are eager to work with our community partners to implement this program in an effort to address the worsening opioid overdose crisis in our parish,” Sheriff Hutson said. “The distribution of naloxone in correctional facilities is a proactive approach and a crucial step in reducing drug-related deaths in New Orleans and keeping the community safe.”
According to Orleans Parish Coroner Dwight McKenna, Fentanyl overdoses killed twice as many New Orleanians as guns in 2022, despite being titled “The Murder Capital of America.”
Naloxone, commonly referred to as Narcan, is the current standard treatment for overdoses because it “rapidly reverses the effects of opioid overdose, according to the FDA. The National Commission on Correctional Health Care has continued to show support for naloxone access inside jails and prisons, as well as when inmates are released.
“The jail is a public health way station – there's a real opportunity to intervene in the lives of so many struggling people,” said Anjali Niyogi, Director of the FIT Clinic.
In the first two weeks after being released from prison, former inmates are 129 times more likely to die from an overdose compared to the average person, according to the Vera Institute of Justice. They say this is because their tolerance drops while incarcerated and since most prisons do not supply medications proven to reduce opioid use. The World Health Organization (WHO) says these medicines are essential.
The U.S. Department of Justice says jails and prisons who do not provide opioid reduction medicines to inmates who need it are violating the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Narcan, or naloxone, is currently available through the New Orleans Health Department and can be picked up at several pharmacies and fire stations across the city.
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse disorder, call the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's 24/7 help hotline at 1-800-662-4357.
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