Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach says he keeps a box of naloxone in his pickup truck.
It’s a lifesaving tool that can fit in the glovebox, and Kobach wants to make the product more accessible to Kansans.
Naloxone, also known by the brand name Narcan, is an overdose-reversal medication that can restore someone’s breathing within minutes and is known for its effectiveness in combating the opioid epidemic.
A state grant review board unanimously approved Friday a $177,000 grant for the Attorney General’s Office to transform unused news racks into naloxone distribution boxes.
“If you’re willing to keep it in your glovebox in your car, you should be doing that, because we need it distributed everywhere to potentially save lives,” Kobach said at a Friday meeting of the Kansas Fights Addiction Grant Review Board.
The idea was inspired by Emily’s Hope, an organization in South Dakota that says it was the first in the nation to partner with its attorney general’s office to repurpose news racks, increasing access to naloxone and reducing the stigma around drug use. The program has been “extremely successful,” said Angela Kennecke, president and CEO of Emily’s Hope. Since April, the organization has established 25 open boxes in 11 cities, and it is working on 12 more. That has amounted to roughly 8,200 kits distributed.