In an effort to save lives, Los Angeles County residents can get free naloxone — the medication that can reverse an opioid overdose — during distribution events at five select public library branches.
A rollout of the pilot program will run from Oct. 11 through Nov. 9, the county announced.
The public can attend a clinic at one of the five county libraries that will be giving out naloxone, the main ingredient contained in the brand name product Narcan. At these sessions, the public will watch a video and learn how to administer the medication to a person overdosing on an opioid such as Oxycontin or fentanyl.
People can pick up a dose of naloxone without providing identification, proof of insurance or payment, the L.A. County library reported. Only one dose per person will be provided.
Narcan is applied as a nasal spray in the nostril of a person experiencing an opioid overdose or fentanyl poisoning. As an “opioid antagonist” it attaches to opioid receptors and reverses and blocks the effects of other opioids. It usually results in restored breathing to someone who has slowed breathing or has stopped breathing due to the opioid’s effects.
“Naloxone is easy to use, anyone can carry it, and it saves lives. I have heard from parents who are scared and want to have naloxone on hand in case of an emergency in their own home,” said Fourth District Los Angeles County Supervisor and board chair Janice Hahn in a prepared statement.
The rollout is the second part of implementing a board motion authored by Hahn a year ago. First, library personnel at the system’s 85 locations were trained to administer Narcan. Hahn had asked that libraries also become Narcan distribution centers to the public.
The distribution rollout will take place at five libraries: East Los Angeles Library, 4837 E 3rd St., Los Angeles, CA 90022; Lennox Library, 4359 Lennox Blvd., Lennox, CA 90304; Lancaster Library, 601 W Lancaster Blvd., Lancaster, CA 93534; Leland R. Weaver Library, 4035 Tweedy Blvd., South Gate, CA 90280; West Hollywood Library, 625 N. San Vicente Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069.
“I am pleased to be able to partner with the California Department of Health Care Services and the County Department of Public Health to offer free naloxone to our customers,” said Skye Patrick, L.A. County library director, in a statement.
Residents in the county told both agencies that they wanted the free distribution, Hahn said.
“Many parents have spoken loud and clear that they want direct, easy access to Narcan. Our Department of Public Health held a public meeting to talk about the overdose crisis and there were parents there asking how to get Narcan to actually keep in their own homes,” Hahn wrote in an emailed response.
Nonprofit groups working on educating the public through schools, parent groups and military bases say the synthetic opioid is considered 50 to 100 times stronger than morphine and a small amount is often lethal. Many groups are run by parents who’ve lost a son or daughter who took a drug they thought was Oxycontin but was actually filler, binder and fentanyl. Ads for that are found online, where drug dealers use social media to sell to youth, experts said.
At a county level, fentanyl was responsible for 1,504 fatal overdoses in 2021, a 1,280% increase from 109 overdoses in 2016, according to the Department of Public Health. According to the Centers for Disease Control, 107,622 Americans died of drug poisoning in 2021, with 66 percent of those deaths related to synthetic opioids like fentanyl.
“The fentanyl crisis is a tragedy of historic proportions. Illicit fentanyl is impacting all our communities and leading to the tragic deaths of thousands of our friends, family members, and loved ones,” said Barbara Ferrer, director of DPH, in a statement. She said that making Narcan more available can save lives.
Jaime Puerta, of Santa Clarita, is president and founder of Victims of Illicit Drugs (VOID) and goes from school-to-school educating young people and parents about the presence of fentanyl sold on social media sites such as Snapchat and Instagram.
Puerta lost his son, Daniel, who was 16, three years ago. Daniel received a fake pill that was really fentanyl, and it killed him. “I walked into his bedroom and found him unconscious; his fingernails were blue and his lips were blue,” Puerta said.
“Why libraries?” he asked on Friday, Oct. 13. “I think it should be bigger than in libraries. I think naloxone should be available to absolutely everybody. It should be in every home’s medicine cabinet and everyone should be trained.”
In the last few months, Narcan became available for sale over the counter at about $44 for each dose, said Amy Neville, who splits her time between Laguna Niguel and Arizona. Her son, Alexander, died from fentanyl poisoning after he took a counterfeit pill bought on Snapchat and was misinformed that it was Oxycontin.
Having Narcan available for parents at L.A. County libraries “is a good start, that’s for sure,” said Neville, who started the Alexander Neville Foundation. But she’d like to see the medication spray more readily available, similar to Automated External Defibrillator (AED) machines. By putting Narcan in more public places, it will help erase the stigma that only drug addicts die from fentanyl, she said.
“It’s part of a groundswell that makes things more available and helps prevent that stigma. That it is OK to have these available to get help,” she said.
To learn the dates and times of the naloxone clinics, go to: lacountylibrary.org/naloxone.