Mel Evans/Associated Press
Last summer, the Texas Pharmacy Association released a standing order for Naloxone, known more commonly by its brand name, Narcan, allowing it to be readily available without prescription in every Walgreens in Texas.
Why is this a big deal? Because Narcan is an opioid antidote, meaning it’s administered by a trained individual while someone is actively overdosing. Naloxone is available as a nasal spray or an injectable shot.
Last year, lawmakers passed Senate Bill 1462 which allows for third party prescription. This means that the person who purchases it doesn’t necessarily have to be the person that needs it, similar to what you might do with an Epipen, used for the emergency treatment of severe allergic reactions.
According to the American Society of Addiction Medicine, drug overdose is the leading cause of accidental deaths in the United States.
Mark Kinzly, co-founder of the Texas Overdose Naloxone Initiative, has plaid a key role in supplying naloxone at no cost. Since 2013, TONI has donated over $100,000 of free medication to Austin Harm Reduction Coalition. The first nonprofit organization of its kind in Texas provides clean needles and other equipment at no cost to reduce infection and the risk of overdose.
The organization’s coordinator, James Walker, tries to be as consistent as possible in getting people what they need. “Being reliable for the drug using community but adaptable to the community as a whole is a difficult balance,” said Walker.
There are seven other ‘underground’ syringe exchanges that aren’t as established as Austin Harm Reduction Coalition. These programs work in anonymity, with an individual attaining a large number of syringes and being contacted by people in the drug using community to discard used needles in exchange for new ones.
“One misconception about harm reduction is that it’s the same as rehabilitation,” said Kinzly. “But the main goal is to reduce the spread of disease and the risk of overdose. There have been many instances when a cop will take a drug user to a harm reduction facility as opposed to jail or a sober house.” Sober houses are group homes for people recovering from addiction.
Kinzly, originally from New York, has a personal history with heroin addiction that spans over 20 years. After years in and out of rehab, he helped start the first needle exchange on the east coast. He then became a faculty member at Yale University researching drug-related harms and how to improve the health of drug users. After being clean for 12 years, Kinzly relapsed. He came to Austin in 2013 seeking treatment and decided to follow his passion and help out his “brothers and sisters in the drug using community.”
“The way overdoses are portrayed in the media would make you think that a large majority are people using illicit drugs,” said Kinzly. But many people’s addiction to opioids begins with being prescribed pain medication. “This means that a 68-year-old woman that takes Oxycontin for pain might accidentally overdose because she was given too much without knowing it was even possible for her to overdose.”
But opioid addiction has no age limit. Rogers Doyle, originally from New Orleans, first got prescribed opiates after a sports injury when he was 14-years-old. It wasn’t long before he started stealing his father’s pain medication and began using heroin at age 15. Doyle, now 29-years-old and 20 months sober, first discovered naloxone three years ago. While he has both administered it to others and been administered it himself, he remembers a time not long ago when naloxone would only be available if the city’s Emergency Medical Service reached someone overdosing in time.
“Had people not known how to use Narcan the last time I overdosed, I wouldn’t have made it in time for the ambulance to arrive,” said Doyle.
One thing Kinzly worries about is that while he respects lawmaker’s efforts to make naloxone readily available, the ability to distribute it for free won’t last. For anyone with insurance, two shots of naloxone range from 20 to 60 dollars. For people without insurance, two doses of the Narcan nasal spray are $150 while two doses of the naloxone injection cost $4,200 out of pocket.
“If we’re going to make a true dent in opioid addiction, naloxone needs to be distributed on a community basis,” said Kinzly.
Doyle’s fiancée, Ali, has also struggled with addiction. Both she and Rogers came to Austin seeking treatment and met each other five years ago when they were sober. They feel lucky to have come to Austin because of the many resources available.
In New Orleans, Rogers’s had just two options for in-patient treatment and one of them was a mental hospital. Ali, from Long Island, said that some people can’t go through detox or have a place to sleep because treatment centers have long waitlists. She worries about the gap between addicts on the street and beds available at treatment centers.
“People don’t understand addiction unless they have gone through it,” said Ali. “But it needs the same attention and care as other diseases.”
Ali and Rogers have been dating for three years. They met through friends while sober but ended up relapsing together.
“Once you’ve been exposed to a good life in recovery, you know it’s there and you really want it,” said Doyle. “But that doesn’t necessarily mean relapse isn’t possible.”
It wasn’t until Rogers ended up in prison that he and Ali got sober for good. During this time that they were separated, Ali went to treatment on her own. The couple are expecting a baby in March 2017. Ali is now an insurance agent while Rogers works as a recovery specialist at Solstice Residential Treatment Center in Wimberley, Texas.
After his personal experience overdosing, Rogers Doyle is just thankful he and his fiancée have been given another chance.
Kinzly sees harm reduction as necessary to create a more informed public. The more opportunities people have to either manage their drug use or seek treatment, the less room there is to stigmatize addiction.
November 26, 2016 at 6:50 pm
Much better opening to the story. When you slow down and explain, the reader can go with you. Overall, you’ve done a really good job actually covering your beat throughout the semester, Sarah.
A few things:
*”The Texas Overdose Naloxone Initiative, has plaid a key role in…” You mean “played.”
*Quotes should go in their own paragraphs. So, this: The organization’s coordinator, James Walker, tries to be as consistent as possible in getting people what they need. “Being reliable for the drug using community but adaptable to the community as a whole is a difficult balance,” said Walker.
…should look like this:
The organization’s coordinator, James Walker, tries to be as consistent as possible in getting people what they need.
“Being reliable for the drug- using community but adaptable to the community as a whole is a difficult balance,” said Walker.
* You identify Kinzly as a former faculty member at Yale. BUt I don’t think he could have been on the faculty. He doesn’t have a PhD, does he? He is listed in his linked in as: “Site Coordinator for NIDA funded research” at Yale’s medical school. What does this job title mean? Did you ask him? What is NIDA?
*”respects lawmaker’s efforts to make ” should be “lawmakers’ efforts” = plural
*”naloxone range from 20 to 60 dollars.” Should be $20 to $60″ = AP Style
*”In New Orleans, Rogers’s…” Should be “Rogers” AND you should be using Doyle on second reference. Full name on first reference; last name only on second reference = AP Style. What is Ali’s full name? Do you know? If so, you should use her full name on first reference and last name only on second and subsequent references.
*Needs attribution. Should be: “The more opportunities people have to either manage their drug use or seek treatment, the less room there is to stigmatize addiction,” he says.
*On the multimedia, it’s really good to hear Doyle speak for himself (though he cuts off rather abruptly at the end). Could you have managed to get a photo of him, too? That would make this embed more of a piece with the whole story, rather than sort of plunked in there. But the snippet you chose works well.