Hawaii County has received 150 Narcan kits from the Hawaii Island Fentanyl Task Force to be distributed to county-run facilities such as parks and community centers. Staff at these facilities will also receive training on how to administer the medication.

“We are honored to continue our partnership with the Hawaii Fentanyl Task Force by working together to get Narcan into our county buildings and vehicles,” Hawaii County Mayor Mitch Roth said in a news release last week.

Narcan is the brand name for naloxone, a nasal spray medication that quickly reverses an opioid overdose. It was approved for over-the-counter sale by the Food and Drug Administration in March.

The task force, a local coalition of community members and health professionals started in 2021, has an ongoing partnership with the county, as well as 80 other community partners.

In addition to the Narcan kit donation to the county, the task force has distributed about 14,000 doses on Hawaii island, said task force co-lead Kevin Kunz.

Hawaii County’s police, fire and emergency medical services also have and are using Narcan kits “pretty regularly,” according to Tim Hansen, executive assistant to Roth.

“Our Hawaii Island Fentanyl Task Force really have been the ones that have been so instrumental in pushing making Narcan available,” Hansen said.

The donation is one component of the task force’s five-year plan, which prioritizes community education and prevention, early intervention, treatment services, recovery support, and harm reduction.

Between March 2022 and March 2023, there were 47 overdose deaths on Hawaii island, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics. This figure more than doubled in three years.

“Much of this is methamphetamine, but the fourth wave of the opioid epidemic is fentanyl mixed with stimulants like cocaine and methamphetamine, and we’re also seeing nationally and here, people dying of fentanyl alone,” Kunz said. “We’ve done over 400 presentations in schools and community groups in the last two years … we go anywhere we’re asked to go.”

There are two cartridges of Narcan in the glove compartment of Loyal Archuletta Jr.’s car right now. Archuletta, a fentanyl addict in recovery, has been clean since January, but still always carries the medication with him.

“I can’t even tell you how many people’s lives that Narcan saved, including mine,” he said.

Archuletta was in a Lowe’s parking lot one of the first times that he took fentanyl. When he began to overdose, people with him pulled him out of the car and administered Narcan into his nose, saving his life.

“You have no idea if a family member is on opiates or on fentanyl, but I would think that (Narcan) would be an important thing to have in everybody’s medicine cabinet,” Archuletta said. “If you have this on hand, it could save their lives.”

In addition to Hawaii County facilities and statewide emergency services, Narcan is available across the state.

In early October, the Oahu­-based Hawaii Health &Harm Reduction Center debuted vending machines distributing free Narcan at 30 sites statewide, including on the neighbor islands, supplementing their distribution program via postal mail. Narcan is also available by prescription.

“It’s nice that Narcan is being more widely distributed, (and) we’ve made a lot of progress,” said Nikos Leverenz, a manager at the harm reduction center.

The center also partnered with Honolulu City Councilmember Tyler Dos Santos-Tam, who spearheaded a bill requiring Narcan be made available in restaurants and bars that sell alcohol. Mayor Rick Blangiardi signed the bill in July, and it will go into effect in January. Hawaii County does not have a similar law in place at this time.

Moving forward, the Hawaii Island Fentanyl Task Force is continuing efforts toward the goals outlined in the organization’s five-year plan.

“In the long run, while it’s great to have Narcan and it’s great to have treatment and it’s great to have the police working hard, the truth is without community awareness and education, none of this will stop,” said Kunz.