NARCAN Boxes Coming To Harwich In Effort To Battle Opioid Overdoses

HARWICH – Boxes containing doses of the overdose-reversing drug Naloxone, known commercially as NARCAN, will soon be installed in two public places in town as part of an effort to reduce the risk of fatal overdoses to heroin, fentanyl and other opioids.

 Known as NaloxBoxes or Samboxes (in reference to the Good Samaritan law that protects rescuers), the boxes will be placed at the community center and in the restrooms at the chamber of commerce visitor center in Harwich Port. They’re being provided by the AIDS Support Group of Cape Cod (ASGCC) using some of the town’s share of opioid settlement funds. The announcement was made by the ASGCC’s Harm Reduction Services Director Eliza Morrison, who made a presentation to the health board on Feb. 20.

 The group has also provided NaloxBoxes in Chatham — located at the community center, fish pier and annex, according to Health Agent Judith Giorgio — and Orleans recently authorized the release of opioid settlement funds which will be used to purchase NaloBoxes and fund the group’s services, accordion to AIDS Support Group of Cape Cod President and CEO Dan Gates. 

 “We are an organization that is rooted in harm reduction,” Morrison said. The town contracts with ASGCC to provide various services to combat the local effects of the opioid epidemic. The organization provides a variety of services for people who use drugs, from medical case management for people living with HIV to healthcare counseling and free testing for sexually transmitted infections. 

“We provide access to sterile syringes, syringe disposal and syringe retrieval services in the community,” she added. Where syringe services are provided, the program always ends up retrieving more used syringes than the number of sterile ones it distributes, Morrison said. 

 While the ASGCC provides its services from fixed locations in Provincetown and Hyannis, it reaches Lower Cape communities using a small outreach van, she said.

 “We are out in your community already,” Morrison said, with the van often passing through Harwich on Wednesday afternoons. “We have some participants that we engage with on a regular basis in the Harwich area,” she said. In the future, she hopes the van will be in Harwich even more often. “It’s a great way to start talking in the community about substance use and NARCAN and different services that we provide,” Morrison said. ASGCC even provides specialized interventions to people who have overdosed, within 24 hours of their episode, connecting them with rehab referrals and other resources, including counseling for people who responded to the overdose.

 In Harwich, ASGCC has built a good partnership with the health department and its director, Carrie Schoener, who was particularly interested in the installation of NaloxBoxes. Each box contains eight doses of NARCAN, along with a resuscitation mask. A nasal spray, NARCAN is safe and cannot be abused, Morrison said.

 “It’s safe to have around kids, it’s safe to have in public places, it’s safe to have around pets,” she said. Typically, people who use drugs take a supply of NARCAN from the NaloxBoxes and keep it with them when they are using. While many users take drugs in public places like parking lots rather than at home, the installation of NaloxBoxes won’t lead to more drug use in the area, she said.

 “It does not increase the risk of overdose on site,” she said. As a public health tool, NaloxBoxes aim to increase the availability of NARCAN throughout the community, while providing users the anonymity to retrieve doses without having to go to the doctor or pharmacy, she said. “We’re all about reducing barriers for people,” Morrison said.

 The NaloxBoxes also contain a supply of special test strips that people who use drugs can use to test those drugs for dangerous contamination before use.

 “We do know that the substances on Cape Cod are extremely contaminated. So anybody who uses drugs is at risk, potentially, for overdose,” Morrison said. 

 The town nurse also has a supply of NARCAN, and people interested in obtaining a supply — whether they use drugs or have loved ones who do — can also call ASGCC at 508-778-1954. Schoener said the town will make an announcement once the NaloxBoxes are installed and has already given out some doses of NARCAN at a recent flu clinic and at a chokesaver training session for local restaurants.

 Morrison said despite a somewhat slow rollout, ASGCC is beginning to expand its harm reduction efforts in places like Harwich, thanks to the opioid remediation funds. She praised the town for its interest in NaloxBoxes.

 “The likelihood of encountering somebody who’s potentially experiencing an overdose in the community has increased substantially in the past 10 or so years,” she said.