Wichita harm-reduction activists are hopeful the Food and Drug Administration’s recent decision to sell Narcan, a brand of nasal spray naloxone, without a prescription over-the-counter will make the drug more accessible to people who need it – but when and how it might be available is not yet clear. The activists routinely distribute thousands of Narcan kits a year, and demand keeps rising.
Opioid overdose
These laws could curb fentanyl deaths. Why won’t Kansas lawmakers enact them?
Update: On May 11, Gov. Laura Kelly signed Senate Bill 174 into law. The bill decriminalizes fentanyl test strips. Read more here. On Monday, the Kansas Legislature introduced a bill that, if passed, would decriminalize a tool used to test drugs for the presence of fentanyl. House Bill 2328 was introduced with little fanfare in […]
These laws could curb fentanyl deaths. Why won’t Kansas lawmakers enact them?
Update: On May 11, Gov. Laura Kelly signed Senate Bill 174 into law. The bill decriminalizes fentanyl test strips. Read more here. On Monday, the Kansas Legislature introduced a bill that, if passed, would decriminalize a tool used to test drugs for the presence of fentanyl. House Bill 2328 was introduced with little fanfare in […]
‘Much more death now than there was’: How fentanyl changed opioid addiction treatment in Wichita
The risk of an overdose is high while patients wait for addiction treatment. Specialists want more resources and fewer obstacles to harm-reduction measures.
Drug overdose deaths caused by fentanyl are skyrocketing in Wichita. Here’s what you need to know.
In the past four years, the number of people who died from drug overdoses annually in Sedgwick County more than doubled, a dramatic increase attributed almost entirely to fentanyl. The rise in fentanyl overdoses is a recent, growing problem that’s required an urgent response from the city, according to law enforcement and forensic scientists. Fentanyl […]