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With the help of the Allegheny County Health Department, two Pittsburgh universities plan to make naloxone to more readily available to students.
Naloxone, the overdose prevention drug commonly known by the brand name Narcan, is set to be made available at Chatham University and the University of Pittsburgh in the coming months.
By the end of November, Chatham plans to place a dispenser cabinet in the Carriage House, according to Hayden Barns, a registered nurse for Chatham University Health Services. Carriage House is the university’s largest student lounge.
The county has been in talks with the schools due to an increased need for the medication on campuses, according to Ottis Pitts, deputy director of the health department’s Bureau of Food Safety, Housing & Policy.
In 2023, 20% of those hospitalized for overdoses in Allegheny County were under the age of 25, according to county data.
“I have been working with the health department over the past year to increase education on overdose prevention and access to Narcan,” Barns said.
While the county offers multiple styles of dispensers, Chatham and Pitt will be including medicine cabinet-style dispensers on campus. Each cabinet will hold 20 doses of naloxone and be accessible 24/7, according to employees from both universities.
Pitt’s dispensers are expected to be installed in the spring 2025 semester, said Jared Stonesifer, a spokesperson for Pitt’s main campus. The exact location of the dispensers has not been determined yet.
Other universities have implemented similar measures in response to the ongoing opioid crisis.
In spring 2024, Carnegie Mellon University installed three “Wellness to Go” vending machines. Each machine contains over-the-counter pain relievers and allergy medication as well as condoms, emergency contraceptives, rapid COVID tests, fentanyl test strips, and naloxone, most of which are provided by the county.
Several other naloxone dispensers have been installed across the county in the past year. A pilot program for free vending machine-style dispensers launched in August and has yielded mixed results.
JADE Wellness in the South Side was one of the host spots for one of the first machines to be installed. Alex Perla, co-founder of JADE Wellness, said the machine was extremely popular, but broke within a week of its installation. It was soon replaced, and then the replacement broke as well, he said.
Naloxone is still available for free anyone through direct request from the county’s harm reduction website and through several university police forces.
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