West Virginia has the highest opioid overdose death rate in the United States. As part of the response, West Virginia launched a statewide initiative in 2016-2017 to distribute take-home naloxone kits to high-risk individuals. Naloxone distribution to drug users in urban areas is typically an easier task than distribution to this high-risk population in rural areas, so the initiative had to be innovative given that West Virginia is a mostly rural state.

The initiative brought together government, community, and university partners. The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources contracted with the West Virginia University Injury Control Research Center (ICRC) to implement and evaluate the program, with funding the SAMHSA Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment block grant. The ICRC partnered with overdose education and naloxone distribution programs across the state to get naloxone into the hands of laypersons most likely to witness an opioid overdose, such as people who use drugs. 

Ultimately, the initiative led to 8250 take-home naloxone kits distributed to 87 different programs representing 38 of West Virginia’s 55 counties between February and June 2017. Before the kits were distributed to an organization, it had to provide evidence that their staff were trained and that it had a standing order from a licensed physician because naloxone is considered a prescription drug in West Virginia. 

More detail on the development of this program along with contact information can be found in the presentation here. An overview of the program can be found in the press release here and the news article here. An evaluation of the program appears in the peer-reviewed literature.