TEA, S.D. (KELO) — The Trump administration has reportedly proposed a $56 million cut to grant funding for naloxone, which is also known by the brand name Narcan. It’s a medication that reverses the effects of an opioid overdose.
Emily’s Hope recently announced plans to distribute 20,000 naloxone kits across South Dakota. While the non-profit’s founder Angela Kennecke says Trump’s proposed cuts won’t impact that program, she worries the progress that has been made on stopping the opioid crisis could slow down.
“It’s a good thing that the Trump administration renewed the opioid crisis as a public health emergency because it is, and it continues to be, but one of the reasons that we saw overdose deaths go down by about 25% nationwide is because of the mass distribution of naloxone and because every first responder has it. We don’t want to go backwards on that. We just want to move forward, and we want to make naloxone widely available,” Kennecke said.