How the program works
Who makes it possible
NARCAN ONLINE
Harm Reduction Ohio will mail free Narcan or intramuscular naloxone to any person who needs it in Ohio.
Click the above image or order here now — https://www.harmreductionohio.org/get-naloxone/ — to get naloxone sent to you promptly and discreetly by mail.
Ohio’s biggest, lowest cost naloxone service
So far this year, Harm Reduction Ohio has fulfilled an average of 123 naloxone kits per week from online orders. More than 600 overdose reversals from these online orders have been confirmed to us.
In addition, so far this year, we have provided an average of 354 naloxone kits per week to our network of volunteer lay distributors located across Ohio. The number of overdose reversals from these naloxone distributions is nearly impossible to determine but likely very high because lay distributors are highly accurate in getting naloxone to people who use drugs and are at high risk of overdose death, as well as people in direct and frequent contact with those at risk of overdose.
Harm Reduction Ohio is by far the largest naloxone distributor in Ohio and one of the largest in the country. We are also the lowest cost naloxone distributor in Ohio, providing naloxone at less than one-fourth the cost per unit of health departments. Harm Reduction Ohio also more accurately reaches the at-risk population than any other type of providers except for Ohio’s 20 syringe service programs, which provide sterile syringes and needles to people who inject drugs.
Key supporters
This service is made possible by support from the Ohio Department of Health’s Project DAWN program (for Narcan) and the pharmaceutical industry’s DirectRelief charity program (for intramuscular naloxone).
Other financial supporters include the Interact for Health foundation in Cincinnati, the Empowering Communities Initiative out of the Ohio State University, the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, the Open Society Foundation and more than 200 individual contributors (mostly via Facebook donations).
Harm Reduction Ohio is the Ohio affiliate of NEXT Distro, an online harm reduction distribution service based in New York City. NEXT Distro handles the processing of online orders. Harm Reduction Ohio fulfills these orders from our offices in Granville and Dayton.
People who made it possible
Taylor Bennett, program founder, and Dylan Stanley, now deceased
Harm Reduction Ohio’s naloxone distribution program was started in early 2018 by Taylor Bennett, our former advocacy director, with the supplies provided by the late harm reduction legend Dan Biggs of the Chicago Recovery Alliance. (Taylor now lives in Kentucky and continues to distribute naloxone. Dan died of an overdose in August 2018.)
Dylan Stanley, our late community outreach director, was probably the most effective lay distributor of naloxone we’ve ever had. She provided hundreds of naloxone kits directly to people who use drugs, mostly in Columbus. She also personally reversed dozens of overdoses herself. (Her service and vibrant personality is sorely missed.)
Also, playing key roles in the explosive growth of our naloxone program, not yet four years old, were former Harm Reduction Ohio administrator Carole Robinson, early program organizer Chris Hopkins and former naloxone distribution specialist Allison Loeber — all smart, hard-working, dedicated harm reductionists.
Running the bigger-than-ever operation today are naloxone program manager Mary Loesch, naloxone distribution specialist Aaron Hubele and newly hired naloxone distribution specialist Sydney Tavens. Outreach program coordinator AmandaLynn Reese oversees many crucial tasks, too, such as training and supporting lay distributors as well as distributing naloxone at many events herself.
How you can help
One way to support naloxone distribution is to buy a T-shirt or coffee mug. Half of what you purchase price will support naloxone distribution. (The other half covers the cost of what you buy.) You can also donate directly to Harm Reduction Ohio’s naloxone distribution program here.
As you can see, it takes a harm reduction village to get naloxone where it needs to be to reverse an overdoses and save lives. Last year, a record 5,017 Ohio residents died of drug overdoses — all of which could have been prevented.
There is much more work to do. Thank you for all the support you’ve provided so far to Harm Reduction Ohio.
AmandaLynn and intern Melissa Vipperman providing naloxone and other harm reduction supplies at a music festival in Orrville.