'Always more to do'; New initiative aims to distribute naloxone to Texas college campuses

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Naloxone Texas launched a new overdose prevention initiative at colleges and universities across Texas this fall.

The initiative targets public and private universities, community colleges and trade schools in response to the opioid crisis affecting young adults in the state.

Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that was released in February showed that there was a nearly 24% decline in drug overdose deaths in the United States for the 12 months ending in September 2024, compared to the previous year.

Still, overdose remains the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18-44.

Naloxone Texas is a program of the Be Well Institute on Substance Use and Related Disorders at the University of Texas at San Antonio Health Science Center. It has 10 organizations across Texas that serve as distribution hubs, ensuring that naloxone and overdose prevention training reach those who need it.

Naloxone, also known as Narcan, is a medication that can rapidly reverse an opioid overdose and save lives when administered quickly.

Naloxone Texas is working to raise awareness about the dangers of accidental overdoses and distribute naloxone at campuses across the state, as well as participating in several events at community colleges across Texas, including those in Austin, Houston, and San Antonio. At the events, students and staff can sign up for free naloxone kits, learn how to use them and ask questions about overdose prevention and treatment resources. 

Communities for Recovery is the Central Texas distribution hub for Naloxone Texas.

Nik Sadecky and Sayge Reynolds, with Communities for Recovery, said that overdoses can happen to anyone, and that without naloxone, they or many of their loved ones wouldn’t be alive today.

Reynolds said she came from a family that had substance abuse issues, but her struggle with addiction hit her when she was in college.

“I think people are starting to realize that it’s not your stereotypical, you know, person that’s overdosing. Like, people are losing their grandkids, their, you know, daughters. A friend at your kid’s school. And it could be anyone,” Reynolds said.

“And I think that, you know, college students specifically, I know for myself — that’s when my addiction and a lot of my issues started really shining through and coming to the surface. You know, I left home and I had this freedom, where, you know, the other kids were doing it, and I started realizing that maybe, like, what I was doing was different from what they were doing. Like, I took it to the next level,” she said. “And I think that, you know, that’s a big part of it, especially in that age group, like everyone’s doing it.”

Sadecky said the main goal of the Naloxone Texas initiative is to get naloxone into the hands of college students.

“Communities for Recovery, has to date, trained 1,600 plus people across our region. We would love to get more numbers in college students because, ages 18 to 44, the leading cause of death for that age group is overdose, fentanyl mostly,” Sadecky said. “There’s a lot of illicitly manufactured counterfeit pharmaceuticals out there. So we want to try to arm the public with naloxone, train everybody how to use it and save many lives as possible. We like to say one dose equals one life. So the more naloxone is out there, the safer everybody will be.”

Naloxone Texas offers free naloxone and training, and can provide bulk naloxone orders and tailored training programs for organizations.

For individuals, anyone can order naloxone for personal use and/or attend a virtual training session to learn more about the medication. And anyone can walk into Communities for Recovery and get free naloxone.

“With naloxone, it’s just like a fire extinguisher,” Reynolds said. “We all keep a fire extinguisher somewhere, not in hopes of having a fire, or planning on having a fire, but because if it happens, we want to make sure that we can keep people safe and keep people alive.”

Sadecky added that even though overdose death rates have decreased, there is still a need for prevention and response efforts and awareness.

“There’s always more to do,” he said. “And kids are going back to school now and they’re maybe going on to college campus for the first time, you know, freshman year or whatever. They can be just out having a fun night and end up in a bad situation… It can be any number of reasons that you get a pharmaceutical from an unregulated source, and you’re not 100% certain it came from your pharmacy… It could very well be the last thing you take.”

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