The Arkansas Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) awarded funding to five adult drug courts to increase resources in battling the opioid epidemic in their communities. The AOC delivered naloxone kits for distribution to all courtrooms in the 16th Judicial Circuit.

The Board of Commissioners and the Camden County Addiction Awareness Task Force have installed naloxone kits inside climate-controlled buildings in various parks, buildings, and public restrooms throughout the county. All park ambassadors have been trained on how to administer naloxone and carry it with them during their shifts. This $6,000 initiative was paid for by opioid litigation settlement funds.

Despite making naloxone increasingly accessible through free availability at pharmacies and NaloxBoxes in schools, public libraries, health facilities, courts, bars, motels, and parks, communities found that many people still did not know how to use the medication. The Camden County Office of the Prosecutor partnered with Penn’s School of Nursing and Annenberg School for Communication’s Virtual Reality ColLABorative to create a locally tailored virtual reality viewing experience on naloxone administration. The effort funded by the New Jersey attorney general provides a real-life scenario in which an individual is suffering from an overdose. Results showed that the virtual-reality training was just as effective as in-person training.

Menominee County has the highest overdose death rate in Wisconsin, and the Menominee Tribe saw its highest number on record in 2022. This surge in deaths led to a new community resource center and a Drug Intervention Team. The Tribe receives naloxone through the state’s Narcan Direct program. The Tribal police partner with the team to get people to treatment. The Maehnowesekiyah Wellness Center and the Menominee Tribal Clinic complete crisis assessments within 24 hours for those suffering from substance use problems at no cost. Through collaborative efforts, the Menominee Tribe is expanding prevention and overdose resources to its community.

MSTEPP trained and equipped two school districts with naloxone and worked with the Substance Abuse Coalition Leaders of Arizona to develop a school board policy template for districts desiring to bring naloxone into their facilities. MSTEPP also fostered successful partnerships with many local organizations—including the Kingman, Arizona, Chamber of Commerce, focused on educating local businesses about and equipping them with naloxone; the Chamber of Commerce now functions as a distribution point and training center for businesses that want to have naloxone within their establishments.

The Oklahoma County Commissioners voted unanimously to install an overdose prevention vending machine in the county courthouse. The vending machine offers naloxone and fentanyl test strips free of charge. An individual simply enters their ZIP Code (no name is required) and receives both naloxone and fentanyl test strips. The intention of the vending machine is not only to make lifesaving medication and tools more readily available, but also to break down the stigma in getting the help a person needs.

After experiencing a spike in overdose deaths, the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa radically revamped its harm reduction strategies. Team members distribute naloxone and support people after an overdose through the medical system. Reports show that these new strategies are working with hundreds of overdoses reversed in 2023, many attributed to the use of naloxone interventions. The Bad River Band has been asked to consult with other Wisconsin tribes.

The Tempe Police Department received a $2 million grant from SAMSHA to start the Tempe First-Responder Opioid Recovery Project in 2020. Through this project, Tempe police officers are trained to use naloxone. The program includes a 24/7 Crisis Outreach Response Team that responds to overdoses and provides follow-up support for up to 45 days after overdose. This collaborative effort includes police officers, peer counselors, social workers, and researchers. The ultimate goal is to divert people with addiction out of the criminal justice system and into behavioral health facilities. The program is designed to be simple, with minimal paperwork and one phone call to a hotline staffed by behavioral health professionals. Through research conducted by Arizona State University, the program is proving effective. After receiving the training, officers are showing increased support for carrying and using naloxone. Officers also show a shift in their beliefs about the effectiveness of police-led efforts to connect people who use drugs to recovery services.

In partnership with Clark County Jail Services, Southwest Washington Accountable Communities of Health (SWACH), and Carelon Behavioral Health, a naloxone vending machine has been installed in the public lobby of the Clark County Jail. The vending machine contains free nasal naloxone, fentanyl test strips, and information about local substance use treatment services. The goal of the partnership is to improve public safety through effective correctional and reentry practices. Clark County hopes that the vending machine will provide much-needed harm reduction supplies to individuals leaving the jail as well as to their families and friends. The jail offers additional services to reduce overdose deaths, including medical screening for opioid use disorder (OUD) at the time of booking, issuing naloxone to all corrections officers to carry on duty, and providing in-custody clinical services related to medications for (OUD).

As of early 2024, the Washington State Senate expanded existing law mandating that all school districts (not just high schools) need to obtain and maintain at least one naloxone kit in each school. School districts must also adopt an opioid-related overdose policy covering how medications will be obtained, maintained, distributed, and administered. In addition, schools are required to give opioid- and fentanyl-use prevention education at least once per year to all students in seventh and ninth grade. Finally, substance-use prevention must be added to all health and physical education learning standards in middle and high schools starting next year.