The opioid crisis has been referred to by professionals and experts as “the biggest public health threat in the developed world since the HIV epidemic.” Denver is no exception to this rising public health threat. In light of the continuing epidemic, the FDA approved the life-saving medication Narcan as an over-the-counter treatment for overdoses in March this year.
“I’ve been looking at the statistics in Denver, and actually across the state, and across the nation, and overdoses are getting substantially worse,” said Kim McDevitt, Denver community engagement manager at Mile High Health Alliance. “It’s almost doubling every year in terms of fatalities and the drug supply being tainted.”
In October, McDevitt sat behind a booth at the Huerta Urbana Farmers Market handing out Narcan nasal spray along with other free items of necessity like deodorant and sunscreen.
McDevitt conducted a learning lesson with a community member at Huerta Urbana, who approached with apprehension, concerned about the misinformation he’s heard about the medication and its “dangerous” side effects. He left with a package of the nasal spray and a new view on Narcan and the opioid crisis in Denver.
“Thanks,” he said to McDevitt as he left her booth. “I didn’t know a lot of that.”
McDevitt reported an instance of Narcan saving a life at an event held by the mutual aid organization Free BBQ Mondays which works with Mile High Health Alliance. Free BBQ Mondays serves about 200-250 meals a week, which draws in many community members who may not otherwise be reached.
“In August, there was an overdose there at the food distribution event that they were able to respond to because they had Narcan on hand,” McDevitt said.
McDevitt’s Narcan distribution has yielded especially helpful results among the unhoused population in Denver.
“I’ve actually gone personally and walked through the encampments and handed out [Narcan] to each tent that I could,” McDevitt said. “People have it, which is really helpful, and I think it’s a lot to do with mutual aid groups. They’re the first responders that are there while [overdoses] are happening. They’re saving lives. People at mutual aid events will sometimes take, you know, six, seven, eight Narcans knowing that they’ll be able to use all of those in a week, which is really unfortunate. But that’s the level of crisis that we’re seeing, out in encampments especially.”
José Esquibel, director of the Colorado Consortium for Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention, described compassion dwindling for people struggling with addiction to substances like opioids. The population of drug users has shifted from primarily white people in the early 2010s to higher minority numbers today. This shifting statistic, Esquibel said, has to do with white populations having easier access to medical providers and prescription opioids.
“We’re at a point now, 12, 13 years later, where, when it comes to the rates of overdose deaths, it’s much higher among the Black population, among the Native American population, and among Hispanics,” Esquibel said.
Esquibel said the social panic surrounding the potency of fentanyl has had a major impact on the criminal justice system.
“Before, we were really working hard on saving people and doing diversion programs. Now, we’re seeing laws change, where we want to arrest people and put them in jail,” Esquibel said. “People with addiction have a medical problem and need to be treated outside of jail, even though they may be in possession of a drug that’s illegal. A lot of it I think is related to health inequity, and these are just some of the inequities that we’ve seen in our criminal justice system in America for many, many, many years.”
In general, Esquibel wants the Denver community to view individuals dealing with addiction in a compassionate light. He points out that people who are addicted to any substance—whether that’s alcohol, high-potency marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamines or opioids—are experiencing altered brain chemistry.
“This addiction is a medical condition,” he said. “It is a brain dysfunction. These people’s brains have changed to the point that they know that what they’re doing is harmful, but their bodies are not going to release them, or allow them that control to change. We [need to] start really treating it more like [a medical condition], versus a moral deficiency, or a criminal offense. With addiction, it’s going to take a lot more compassion to understand that to help people get the help they need.”
Coreen Johnson has been in recovery since 2016 from a cocaine dependency. She began working with the Arapahoe County chapter of the grass-roots nonprofit Young People in Recovery, or YPR, the same year she began her recovery journey, or her journey through “abstinence from [her] drug of choice,” as Johnson refers to it.
“Before 2016, I had been using probably, if not daily, every other day,” Johnson said of her own recovery experience. “I would imagine getting hooked to [the point] where I didn’t think that I could function without cocaine or alcohol, or some other substance.”
YPR offers a wide range of free recovery support services to those struggling with drug or alcohol use. Johnson is currently focused on advocating for the support and recovery efforts of people who use drugs, as well as educating the public on how to identify and reverse an opioid overdose.
A recovery journey, Johnson said, “all comes from within.”
“That ‘want’ needs to be there. And before that ‘want’ [there] really [needs to be] harm reduction. We all practice harm reduction, right? Anytime we get into the car, and we put our seatbelt on, we’re reducing that harm to ourselves if we were to get into an accident,” Johnson said. “I think that Narcan is a huge piece in harm reduction. Because if we’re dead, we do not have that chance to recover.”
Johnson spoke publicly at the capitol in support of the Good Samaritan Law preceding the signing of the bill by Gov. John Hickenlooper in 2012.
“I testified with some of my experiences out in the public, coming across people who are overdosing, and asking for somebody to call 911. Nobody wanted to, because they were afraid to be involved,” Johnson said.“That really hindered the survival rate of the person that was overdosing. So, I am a huge advocate for really trying to get that message out there that the Good Samaritan Law will protect us.”
Johnson, McDevitt, and Esquibel’s goals are all the same: to get Narcan well-disbursed within the Denver community and encourage and educate citizens to use it when necessary.
“Everybody in Denver, everybody in the Denver metro area, should strive to carry Narcan with them,” Johnson said. “Just like they would have access to an AED, or would have the knowledge to perform CPR or the Heimlich maneuver. It should be viewed as nothing outside of that realm, other than a tool to save somebody’s life.”
Follow the links provided for more information on common misconceptions of Narcan nasal spray and the signs of an opioid overdose. The SAMHSA National Helpline offers free, confidential help for those struggling with substance use at 1-800-662-4357.
