Larimer News

Regis University is installing a naloxone nasal spray, commonly known by the brand name Narcan, at AED stations around its campuses this month to help prevent opioid overdose deaths.

While there have been no reported overdoses on Regis campuses, overdose deaths in the Denver area have increased more than 300 percent in the last few years. Most of these cases involved fentanyl, a highly potent synthetic opioid used for anesthesia but also used recreationally, sometimes mixed with heroin, cocaine, benzodiazepines or methamphetamine to increase the potency of those illegal drugs.

Naloxone is an easy-to-use, safe medication that temporarily reverses the potentially fatal effects of an opioid overdose. It can save someone who has overdosed on opioids or other drugs that have been laced with fentanyl. Anyone who uses illegal drugs or has friends or family members who do are encouraged to carry naloxone with them.

The naloxone spray will be available at 23 automated external defibrillator (AED) stations and at the Health and Counseling Center (formerly Student Health Services) in the Coors Center on the Northwest Denver campus, and two at its Thornton campus, which houses counseling and family therapy programs and a public clinic.

An AED is a medical device designed to analyze the heart rhythm and deliver an electric shock to victims of ventricular fibrillation to restore the heart rhythm to normal. A campus AED was used to help save a man who collapsed on the Northwest Denver campus last fall during a road race.

Instructions on how to use the naloxone spray are posted by each station. Training sessions will be offered on campus soon for those who want to learn how to recognize an overdose, administer naloxone and also carry it with them.

Under Colorado law, a person cannot be held civilly or criminally liable for a good faith administration of Narcan to someone believed to be undergoing an opioid-related overdose. State law also provides limited criminal immunity for certain amounts of controlled substance possession and the possession of drug paraphernalia for a person who aids someone experiencing an overdose from a controlled substance. Regis will not take any disciplinary action for students who seek assistance and cooperate with emergency personnel in the case of suspected overdose or intoxication.

University policy prohibits the actual or attempted unauthorized possession, use, distribution, sale or manufacture of any controlled substance on its campuses. Regis is committed to preventing the unlawful use of illegal and/or controlled substances, including marijuana, by students, faculty and staff, and to encourage and require lawful and responsible behavior regarding the consumption of alcoholic beverages.

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