Dec 7, 2018 2 min read

Pennsylvania will embark next week on the nation’s largest free distribution of an opioid overdose antidote, with pickup locations in the four-county region.

Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration announced 5,000 naloxone kits will be spread out to health centers across the state for distribution, including locations in Monessen, Waynesburg, Washington and Uniontown. Each kit contains two doses of the drug.

“This is a combined effort of 16 agencies that have been working together since Jan. 10 when the governor made his disaster declaration,” said Nate Wardle, spokesman for the state Department of Health.

Pennsylvania saw 5,456 drug-related overdose deaths in 2017, representing a 64 percent increase since 2015, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

Heroin from Mexico presented a significant threat to the state, “exacerbated by the unprecedented proliferation of clandestinely produced fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances,” the DEA stated in an August news release.

The life-saving naloxone is essential to have, especially for friends and relatives of addicts, Wolf said in a Thursday news release.

“Keeping naloxone in your home, work or even in your car can make the difference between someone getting into treatment or dying from this disease,” Wolf said.

This one-day event coincides with a “standing order prescription” to any state resident wanting the drug from a pharmacy issued by Pennsylvania Health Secretary Rachel Levine. The drug is available for many people free or at a low cost.

More than 20,000 people have been revived with naloxone since November 2014 by police officers or ambulance workers.

The free distribution events will be held from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Dec. 13.

The regional locations are: Washington County Assistance Office, 167 N. Main St., Washington; Monessen State Health Center office, 1 Wendell Ramey Lane, Monessen; Greene County State Health Center, 101 Greene Plaza, Waynesburg; and Fayette County State Health Center, 100 New Salem Road, Uniontown.