Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs (DDAP) Secretary Dr. Latika Davis-Jones announced DDAP’s Overdose Prevention Program is expanding critical access to naloxone in Philadelphia by supplying thousands of doses of the overdose reversal medication for the city’s Naloxone in Black initiative – an effort to decrease the number of overdoses among Black Pennsylvanians.
Since August 2025, more than 41,000 DDAP-supplied doses of naloxone were distributed by 60 Philadelphia fire stations through free, low barrier, newspaper-style naloxone boxes across the city – marking a one-year milestone for the Naloxone in Black initiative.
“The Shapiro Administration’s partnership with the city of Philadelphia exemplifies the Administration’s collaborative approach to overdose prevention and addressing racial inequities in overdose rates,” said Secretary Davis-Jones. “Making naloxone more readily available to those we need to reach the most is truly live saving.”
Naloxone in Black is a partnership between Pennsylvania, Philadelphia’s Office of Public Safety’s Overdose Response Unit (ORU), and Philadelphia fire departments. DDAP supplies ORU with all the naloxone for the initiative. ORU then provides each participating fire station with an aluminum newspaper-style box. Each box contains up to 200 kits of naloxone with each kit containing two doses of the medication. Information on how to use naloxone, safe storage information, and a language guide offering guidance on how to talk about substance use in a non-judgmental way is also included in each box. All contents in the boxes are free to the general public.
“Public safety doesn’t just mean responding to emergencies or preventing violence – it requires meeting the needs of our communities and ensuring people have the resources they need,” said Adam Geer, City of Philadelphia Chief Public Safety Director. “I am proud to join our partners in the Fire Department, the Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs, and our national partners like Vital Strategies to celebrate the success of this initiative and take the next logical step to expand overdose prevention across all of the work the Office of Public Safety does. Today is about more than naloxone – it is about overdose prevention as part of how our city defines public safety.”
According to the Pennsylvania Department of Health, overdose death rates among communities of color continue to remain at higher rates than among white individuals. Preliminary 2025 data show Black Pennsylvanians died from an overdose at a rate that was more than two times higher than the rate among white Pennsylvanians – underscoring the need for continued distribution of opioid overdose reversal resources.
