The jail setting seems to be a prime location for validating an invasive threat to the country. Fentanyl deaths happen every week in county jails across the nation, but the fatalities are by no means limited to jail and prison settings. The availability of Narcan or the lack of it is a pertinent point as this crisis continues.

News in the past week tells of one county sheriff investigating fentanyl exposures in his jail after there has been a rash of overdoses at a jail in his community. In the same news of the day, there was a report that a county jail in another state has had six fentanyl overdoses since the 1^st of March 2023.

What is the Link between Fentanyl Deaths and Narcan?

Narcan®, which contains naloxone, is a medication that can save the lives of people who are overdosing on fentanyl, heroin, and prescription opioids. If given in rapid response to an overdose and with enough doses, depending on the exposure, Narcan can rapidly reverse an opioid overdose. Lifesaving naloxone is administered through a nasal spray, and Narcan is classified as an opioid antagonist. A naloxone injection can also be used, but the nasal spray can be safely administered by anyone with no added harm done to the person who is overdosing.

The underlying question in this series asks whether inmates experiencing opioid overdoses in jails are being administered Narcan. Is Narcan usually available in jails? Then we will look at Texas jails and whether or not Narcan is made available as a general rule to address the opioid crisis.

Learn more in this continuing series.

Helping Texas jail detainees and their families with resources is one of the purposes of this website. There is no intention of suggesting that people or organizations have been involved in misdeeds.

–Guest Contributor