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Utah strengthened its fight against drug overdoses Tuesday as a state agency unanimously approved $135,000 in additional funding to help increase access to the opioid-antidote drug Naloxone.
In the past nine months, 39 overdose reversals had been reported in Utah, said Substance Abuse Advisory Council Director Mary Lou Emerson, who presented the request to the Utah Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice (CCJJ).
"[That's] 39 lives saved from this Utah Naloxone project, so that's really wonderful news," Emerson said.
The money, awarded to the University of Utah School of Medicine/Department of Pediatrics, would help emergency-room physician Jennifer Plumb increase awareness across the Wasatch Front by forming a partnership with the Salt Lake City Police Department and holding trainings for Naloxone use.
Plumb already has funding from the commission to launch a pilot program in Carbon and Emery counties, which have a history of some of the highest rates of drug overdose in the state.
Plumb successfully administered the antidote to an individual she came across who was passed out in the street in downtown Salt Lake City, Emerson said.
The additional money will help make the antidote for opioids and heroin available for free without a prescription to family members and friends of people struggling with drug addiction. It will also pay for six billboards for Naloxone along I-15 between Weber and Utah counties.
Before Tuesday's meeting, funding had been granted to produce an educational video on Naloxone and overdose prevention, which would be utilized throughout the state.
Although this particular request focuses primarily on the Wasatch Front, Emerson said, linking people to utahnaloxone.org helps make Naloxone available to anyone in the state.
The commission will have enough money available in the coming months to at least "make a big dent in this, if not cover the entire project," CCJJ's Richard Ziebarth said.
Doug Thomas, of the Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health, said his office has also recently become aware of federal grants intended to help in the effort to counter opiate overdose, and it plans to apply for that funding in the near future.