Arcadia Trails INTEGRIS Center for Addiction Recovery Holds Naloxone Kit Giveaway on International Overdose Awareness Day
INTEGRIS for addiction recovery, giving away kits to help reverse opioid overdoses
International Overdose Awareness Day is today, Tuesday, August 31, 2021. To raise awareness and advocate for saving Oklahoma lives, the caregivers at Arcadia Trails INTEGRIS Center for Addiction Recovery will host a drive-thru free naloxone kit giveaway from 4-7 p.m. The event will take place on the addiction recovery center parking lot located at 4851 INTEGRIS Parkway, Edmond, OK 73034.
In addition, educational materials will be distributed and clinical experts will also be on site to answer any questions and demonstrate how to use the kits.
What is Naloxone?
Naloxone is a medicine that rapidly reverses an opioid overdose. It attaches to opioid receptors and reverses and blocks the effects of other opioids. Naloxone is a safe medicine. It only reverses overdoses in people with opioids in their systems.
According to the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics, 93,000 Americans died from an overdose in 2020 which is almost a 30 percent increase over 2019. Synthetic opioids, including fentanyl, are now the most common drugs involved in drug overdose deaths in the United States.
All-Time High For Overdose Deaths in Oklahoma
In Oklahoma, more than 1,000 people died from an overdose reaching an all-time high. In 2020, there was a 151.2 percent increase in fentanyl overdoses. The number one cause of overdose in our state with 624 deaths was caused by methamphetamine overdose. Cocaine related deaths also reached an all-time high in 2020 with a 44 percent increase.
Oklahoma continues to see enormous increases in fentanyl coming into the state with over 10,000 pounds seized in a bust on I-35 and 230 pounds seized in northeast Oklahoma last year.
Traditionally, methamphetamines were produced or “cooked” in homes across the state. Today 98 percent of Oklahoma’s methamphetamines come from Mexico. With concerns of more fentanyl and methamphetamine crossing the border in 2021, Oklahomans fear that overdose deaths will continue to climb at record levels.
In 2021, experts expected the post-pandemic overdose numbers to decline, but, unfortunately, the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics is seeing just the opposite with the Oklahoma overdose numbers continuing to rise.
