Library Stocks Up On Drug To Treat Overdoses

DENVER (CBS4) - A new effort is being made to treat drug overdoses at Denver's Central Library.

Chris Henning, a spokesman for the Denver Public Library, said there have been six cases of people overdosing at the downtown branch since mid-February.

Four of those cases were treated with Narcan, a nasal medication for opioid overdoses.

Each Narcan kit costs $75, and the library says it's worth the cost.

"The very first day that we got the shipment in we had to deploy one of the kits, so a little scary, but we want to make sure that we have all of the tools that we need to be able to respond to any kind of emergency possible," Henning said.

In 2015 in Colorado there were 472 deaths linked to opioids, including heroin and prescription painkillers.

Some doctors are advocating the widespread distribution of the antidote.

"If you have a lot of people at risk in a certain area that's where the highest value is," said Dr. Jason Hoppe at University of Colorado Hospital.

"The next steps for this is getting it into people's homes, accepting that this may happen at the library, what do we do about it? How do we give people an opportunity to change their lives later?"

In 2015 in Colorado, there were 472-deaths linked to opioids including heroin and prescription painkillers.