Officials hope to prepare for the opioid epidemic
Officials in Weston County hope they will soon be better equipped to fight the newest front in the war on drugs after the Board of Weston County Commissioners approved a measure to help address the threat of fentanyl in the community.
The commission took the first step toward developing a NARCAN policy for county offices after a brief presentation by Weston County Public Health on Jan. 17. NARCAN “is a prescription medicine used for the treatment of a known or suspected opioid overdose emergency with signs of breathing problems and severe sleepiness or not being able to respond,” according to narcan.com.
The board gave Gilbert Nelson, Weston County Emergency Management coordinator, the authority to develop and administer the program in the way he sees fit.
The Free NARCAN program will be offered by Weston County in conjunction with the Wyoming Department of Health’s Behavioral Health Division. The goal of the program is to get the life-saving medication in locations across the community, including organizations, agencies and businesses, according to a letter from public health.
During the presentation, Nelson explained that having NARCAN in the courthouse could prove beneficial in cases involving either voluntary or involuntary exposure to fentanyl and other dangerous opioids. He suggested that each county office keep NARCAN on hand.
“So much public comes through here (the courthouse). You just never know,” Commissioner Vera Huber said in support of the proposal. “Because it is available, I think it is appropriate to have it here. One person in each office can get trained.”
She noted that it is especially important to have the drug available upstairs in the district court clerk’s office.
According to Christia Martens, public health response coordinator, the Weston County Sheriff’s Office has already developed a policy. This policy, she said, is part of the state’s requirements to participate in the program.
Other requirements, according to information provided by public health, include the designation of individuals to receive training and instructional materials on how to recognize and respond to an opiate-related drug overdose, ensuring that a person to whom an opiate antagonist has been administered receives additional medical care and a medical evaluation, and submitting a complete Naloxone Report Form to the Wyoming Department of Health electronically within 72 hours of administration of the drug.
The county, agency, business or organization is also responsible for obtaining a valid Wyoming prescription or standing order for the amount of NARCAN ordered. According to Martens, Kristen Johnson, Weston County’s public health officer, would be responsible for signing the standing orders.
Any entity or business that wants to take part in the program can contact the Weston County Public Health team for services in accessing the NARCAN.
According to Martens, administering NARCAN to an individual will not cause any harm, even if the person is not overdosing at the time.
“Making this life-saving medicine readily available in Weston County is a mission we fully support,” the letter says. “If you have questions or would like to schedule a time to coordinate your business, agency, or organization’s participation in this program, please contact Weston County Public Health at 307-746-4775 or by email at christia.martens@wyo.gov or sarah.gregory@wyo.gov.”
Johnson is also available to address questions or concerns at kkohlbrand@hotmail.com.
What is NARCAN?
NARCAN is a potentially life-saving prescription medication designed to help reverse the effects of an opioid overdose in minutes, according to information provided by Weston County Public Health. The active ingredient in NARCAN, naloxone hydrochloride, can quickly reverse an overdose by blocking the effects of opioids and restore normal breathing within two to three minutes in a person whose breathing has slowed, or even stopped, because of various opioids.
What is fentanyl?
According to the Drug Enforcement Agency, fentanyl is a “synthetic opioid that is 50-100 times stronger than morphine. Pharmaceutical fentanyl was developed for pain management treatment of cancer patients, applied in a patch on the skin.”
Because of its powerful nature, the agency says, the drug is also diverted for abuse. More than 932,000 people have died from fentanyl overdose since 1999, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 91,799 of those in 2020.
In 2021, Wyoming reported 106 deaths due to fentanyl overdose, up from 99 the previous year, according to the Department of Health.
Dr. Alexia Harrist, state health officer and state epidemiologist, said in an Oct. 13 press release that the increase in fentanyl deaths is partially due to an increase in all synthetic opioid-involved overdose deaths, noting that between 2018 and 2021, the number of synthetic opioid-involved fatal overdoses quadrupled while deaths connected to other opioids stayed relatively stable.
Because of the increase in deaths related to the drug, the health department, in conjunction with Gov. Mark Gordon, has begun sharing important information about fentanyl and other similar drugs, according to the release.
“Because fentanyl is up to 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine, it can also be more addictive and clearly more dangerous,” Harrist said in the release.
Stefan Johnansson, the Wyoming Department of Health’s director, added in the same release that the “drug is nothing short of frightening when used illegally.”
“What increases the level of danger is that people using drugs can be unaware that a synthetic opioid has been added to a drug they have bought or been given to use. They don’t know the fentanyl is there, and the results are sometimes tragic,” he said in the release.
