Community Health & Wellness
Finding naloxone, a medication that can reverse an opioid overdose, has become much easier since pharmacies and retailers throughout Washington began selling it over the counter two years ago.
For Gig Harbor and the majority of communities in South Kitsap, businesses offer one of the few places where the life-saving medication is publicly available. Low-barrier options, like a naloxone cabinet or vending machine, are largely absent.
Expanding access to naloxone has been a cornerstone of Washington’s effort to reduce overdoses from fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 50 times stronger than heroin. Opioid fatality rates nearly tripled over a four-year span ending in 2023, according to data from Addictions Drug & Alcohol Institute at the University of Washington. They dipped slightly last year.
Barriers to accessing naloxone
Naloxone became more available to the public after the federal Food & Drug Administration approved Narcan, a naloxone nasal spray, for over the counter sale in 2023. It was the first naloxone product approved for non-prescription use. Apple Health, Washington’s version of Medicaid, covers Narcan at no-cost, as do many other insurance providers.
Selling naloxone over the counter has been undoubtedly beneficial, but providers caution barriers to the medicine still exist. Costs, insurance limitations, or the stigma and embarrassment of admitting to substance use can deter residents from accessing naloxone. There is also no guarantee a given pharmacy will have it in stock.
“There’s a difference between accessibility and availability,” said Paul LaKosky, executive director of the Tacoma Needle Exchange, a Pierce County nonprofit that provides harm reduction services. “Technically you should be able to go to any pharmacy and buy naloxone, but that’s not been the case for a lot of places.”
A free naloxone cabinet in Bremerton in 2024. Photo by Meegan M. Reid/Kitsap Sun
Naloxone boxes
The Tacoma Needle Change and providers in Kitsap County have embraced vending machines or boxes as a remedy. These containers, which often look like standard vending machines or newspaper boxes, hold free doses of naloxone that can be taken without talking to a provider. Proponents say this model keeps the medicine readily available in the event of an emergency and allows anyone to take it anonymously.
“In the same way that we make fire extinguishers widely and freely available throughout our community so that bystanders can respond to fire, we need to ensure that naloxone is widely and freely available throughout our community so bystanders can respond quickly and effectively to an overdose,” Dana Bierman, a chronic disease and injury prevention program manager for the Kitsap Public Health District, wrote in an email to Gig Harbor Now and the Kitsap Sun last year.
Kitsap County has nearly three dozen of these boxes, most supported by the Salish Behavioral Health Administrative Services Organization. Multiple boxes can be found in Bremerton, Poulsbo, Port Orchard and Bainbridge Island.
The Tacoma Needle Exchange has also placed eight boxes in Pierce County, with services in Tacoma, Spanaway, Eatonville and the Key Peninsula. None are in Gig Harbor.
Push in Key Peninsula
Tacoma Needle Exchange installed a newspaper-style naloxone box at the Key Peninsula Library last year. LaKosky said residents started advocating for the container after a community overdose forum.
“Folks were really supportive of the idea of getting a vending machine or a way to distribute narcan out there,” he said.
Tacoma Needle Exchange considered placing a box in Gig Harbor and reached out to a few places about installing one, Lakosky said. But the idea did not gain traction. A Pierce County Library spokesperson confirmed the Gig Harbor branch does not have publicly available naloxone.
Right now, the agency does not have funds for another box. Stocking these boxes is expensive. The needle exchange has already spent around $750,000 since it began installing them in 2022, Lakosky said.
Over that span they have disrupted roughly 18,000 doses of naloxone. According to self-reported data, those boxes helped reverse more than 300 overdoses.
“Saving 300 lives was well worth $700,000,” he said.
Access in Gig Harbor
Naloxone access in Gig Harbor is still “relatively easy,” said Dr. Len Tran, the emergency room medical director at St. Anthony Hospital.
The hospital – which saw 40 to 50 patients in both 2023 and 2024 involving fentanyl use, including overdoses, overuse and withdrawal cases – can give naloxone nasal sprays to discharged patients. Doctors can also prescribe it for pick up at a pharmacy.
First responders also have naloxone on hand. Mike Dumas, a Gig Harbor Fire & Medic One division chief, wrote in an email that the agency had recorded 29 instances in the last year where they had administered naloxone for a suspected overdose.
A state Department of Health online map shows no free naloxone boxes available in Gig Harbor. The potentially life-saving treatment is available from paramedics, at FISH food bank and elsewhere.
The Gig Harbor Peninsula FISH food bank has naloxone on hand, said its executive director Pam Leazer. Gig Harbor and Peninsula high schools are also required, under state law, to have naloxone on its campus.
Gig Harbor police and the city’s Housing Health and Human Services manager also trained to use naloxone, a city spokesperson said.
Where to find naloxone
The People’s Harm Reduction Alliance, which contracts with the Washington Department of Health, can mail naloxone to any Washington address. Click here to request naloxone from the alliance.
The Tacoma Needle Exchange also delivers it to homes in Pierce County for free after 9 a.m.on Mondays, LaKosky said. They can be reached at (253) 381-5229.
The Washington State Department of Health has a map of free naloxone sites. On the Key Peninsula and in South Kitsap, they include:
- Key Center Pierce County Library, 8905 Key Peninsula Hwy. NW, Home
- West Sound Treatment Center, 2475 Bethel Road SE, Port Orchard
- Grocery Outlet, 1730 SE Mile Hill Dr. Suite 110, Port Orchard
- Kitsap Mental Health Services,1341 Bay St., Port Orchard
- Kitsap County Superior and District Courthouses, 614 Division St., Port Orchard
Providers encourage people with insurance or the financial ability to purchase the medication. Free supplies are limited and intended for those without access.