Rochester joins effort to raise naloxone awareness

Rochester last week joined cities across the country in raising awareness for naloxone, an opioid antagonist.

City Hall, the Riverside Convention Center, and Legacy Tower, among other buildings, were lit in purple to honor National Naloxone Awareness Day.

NNAD was launched in 2023 by Victoria’s Voice Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to drug awareness and prevention, and reducing overdose deaths. Victoria’s Voice was founded by Jackie and David Siegal, in memory of their daughter Victoria, who passed away due to an accidental drug overdose in 2015 when she was 18.

Naloxone, better known by its brand name Narcan, is a medication used to reverse the effects of opioid overdoses. Narcan is often a part of emergency opioid reversal kits and, in addition to being administered by first responders, is often distributed to opioid drug users and community members as a part of harm-reduction efforts to reduce overdose fatalities. 

“(Narcan) gives people who are just out for a walk and could feel helpless, a way of feeling helpful,” says Courtney Klee, a community advocate for harm reduction. “Narcan wasn’t everywhere five years ago. People just don’t know what to do … even if we call 911, we don’t know what’s going to happen, and if it takes them long to get there, somebody could potentially pass away. So I do think that giving the people autonomy and a feeling of how they can help the situation has just calmed everybody down.”

Harm-reduction programs aim to mitigate the negative social, economic, and health effects of drug use and addiction through education and the distribution of materials for overdose prevention and treatment, like Narcan and fentanyl test strips. 

In some cases, harm-reduction programs will also provide drug users with medical care and supplies for safe drug use, such as clean needles and saline solution to prevent the spread of diseases like HIV/AIDs and hepatitis. 

Harm-reduction efforts like the distribution of Narcan have been credited for the declining rate of opioid overdose deaths countrywide. However, harm reduction has faced criticism for enabling drug users and creating the perception that drugs can be used safely.

Advocates have pointed to the success of such programs in mitigating the impact of the opioid epidemic. They argue that the criminalization of drugs fails to address the root causes and impacts of addiction, namely, poverty and lack of education.

“Harm reduction is not just for the person experiencing the trauma. It’s for the community as well. Nobody wants to wake up and be on their way to work and have to know that they couldn’t help somebody maybe survive,” observes Klee. “Nobody wants to see, you know, balloons where someone passed away. That’s just harmful to the community, so I do think that Narcan is saving the community at large as well as the individual (drug user).”

Rochester’s Neighborhood Ambassador Program, a city-funded, community-driven program, seeks to address the opioid epidemic by recruiting and training neighborhood ambassadors in opioid crisis interventions. NAP also distributes naloxone kits, which contain naloxone nasal sprays and strips to test for fentanyl and xylazine.

According to preliminary data from the Centers for Disease Control, 2025 saw an almost 14% decrease in overdose deaths; New York, along with Rhode Island, North Carolina, Alabama, and Vermont, saw the largest decline, with 25% fewer overdose deaths in 2025 than in 2024. 

Data from the CDC includes opioid overdose deaths, which made up over half of all overdose deaths in the United States last year. Narcan is only effective at reversing overdoses from opioids like heroin or fentanyl, and does not treat overdoses resulting from other drugs such as methamphetamine or cocaine.

In Monroe County, opioid-related overdose deaths dropped from 433 in 2023 to 216 in 2024, a decline of 50%, according to recent data from the county medical examiner. The decline mirrors a national trend, which researchers and advocates like Klee attribute to harm-reduction efforts and increased access to Nalaxone, as well as growing awareness of the dangers of opioid use.

In 2023, at the height of the nationwide opioid epidemic, opioid overdose deaths peaked at 79,000 before beginning a steep decline, which has continued since then.

Monroe County’s Department of Public Health offers addiction services and information on opioid use, prevention, and recovery on its website. Visitors can also find information on where to receive free Narcan and opioid overdose reversal training.

David Wazana is a Rochester Beacon contributing writer and a member of the Oasis Project’s second cohort. 

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