FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — Across Arkansas, drug overdoses have been increasing since 2014, according to Arkansas State Crime Lab.
When someone experiences a drug overdose they should always call 911. But not everyone does.
Matt Adams Foundation will be at the University of Arkansas Union distributing Naloxone kits, a muscular injection to reverse an overdose, and fentanyl testing kits for free, Brittney Kelly, co-founder of the foundation said. They will be there from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., according to an Instagram post.
Sgt. Tony Murphy with the Fayetteville Police Department said there typically is an increase in overdoses when school is in session.
Kelly said the best thing to do is to be prepared.
“Be prepared. Be trained,” she said. “Training takes about five minutes.”
The overdose-reversal drug Narcan is displayed during training for employees of the Public Health Management Corporation (PHMC), Dec. 4, 2018, in Philadelphia. The death of a Connecticut seventh grader from an apparent fentanyl overdose has renewed calls for schools to carry the opioid antidote naloxone. The 13-year-old student in Hartford died Saturday after falling ill in school two days earlier. The school did not have naloxone, which is known by the brand name Narcan. But now city officials are vowing to put it in all schools. Fatal overdoses among young people in the U.S. have been increasing amid the opioid epidemic but remain relatively uncommon. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, file) 
Naloxone
People can also text the hotline to get a free Naloxone kit at 479-222-0532.
The organization will distribute as many as needed to the public.
“Bouncers on Dickson carry Naloxone and so does Yancy’s Hot Dogs stand,” Kelly said.
“All of our officers are equipped with Narcan,” Sgt. Murphy said.
Narcan is a nasal overdose reversal. Overdoses and drug use are not typically reported to the police department, according to Sgt. Murphy.
The Matt Adams Foundation is a Fayetteville nonprofit founded in memory of Matt Adams who died from an opioid overdose. The nonprofit gives away opioid reversal kits and assists people who are recovering from opioid addiction.
According to an April 2022 press release from the US Drug Enforcement Administration, the CDC stated that last year more people died from fentanyl-related deaths than gun and car-related deaths combined. From October 2020 to October 2021, more than 105,000 Americans died from drug overdoses. More than 60% of those deaths were fentanyl-related.
