The Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs (DDAP) announced its Overdose Prevention Program has reached a key milestone of 100 partner organizations now distributing naloxone and drug testing strips across all counties to help prevent overdoses, particularly those that could be fatal.
“The Overdose Prevention Program demonstrates DDAP’s commitment to reducing overdose deaths by expanding access to naloxone and other life-saving overdose prevention supplies,” said DDAP Secretary Dr. Latika Davis-Jones. “Having a strong, statewide network of partners really helps to strengthen our harm reduction infrastructure while emphasizing equity, access, and trust among the individuals using these resources to save lives.”
Naloxone is a medication approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to rapidly reverse an opioid overdose by quickly restoring breathing to an individual if their breathing has slowed or stopped.
DDAP operates the Overdose Prevention Program, which uses a hub-and-spoke model by providing free naloxone and drug testing strips to organizations throughout Pennsylvania known as overdose prevention partners.
Once an organization becomes a partner, DDAP supplies the partner with naloxone and drug testing strips. Partners then serve as “hubs,” creating a network of local access points for individuals, community-based groups, and others to get free naloxone and test strips to check drugs for xylazine and fentanyl.
Partners include county drug and alcohol offices, health care providers, police departments, fire departments, recovery community organizations, and faith-based organizations.
Among the partners is Shippensburg University, which is the first Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education institution to become an overdose prevention partner through the Administration’s program.
Since becoming a partner through its Connection Alcohol and Other Drugs Program (Connection AOD), Shippensburg University has distributed over 1,500 doses of naloxone. The naloxone is placed in newspaper-style boxes across eight locations and available to anyone in the community for free. The locations include three on-campus locations, including residential and academic buildings, and five off-campus locations, including the Shippensburg public library.
“Becoming an overdose prevention partner is an important new chapter – as it creates a more efficient pathway for access, streamlines distribution of naloxone and testing strips, and it allows the Connection AOD program to serve as a local site for community members who would like to pick up naloxone,” said Kurt Dunkel, Program Coordinator, Shippensburg University Connection AOD & Wellness Programs. “We believe that overdose prevention works best when it’s done collectively and we would not be able to do this work without our additional partners such as university leadership, DDAP, and the local county drug and alcohol offices.”
Connection AOD is Shippensburg University’s alcohol and drug education, prevention, and intervention program. The program provides services such as recovery support meetings, free trainings on how to help students who are in recovery, peer supports for students who need help, naloxone training, and other resources.
