Last month, the city of Monterey installed newspaper boxes filled with free naloxone — commonly known as Narcan — in three community locations: the Monterey Transit Plaza (500 Tyler St.), Monterey Outreach and Navigation Center (351 Madison St.) and Monterey Police Department (401 Camino El Estero).
California Department of Public Health data has shown the number of opioid-related deaths in Monterey County has been on the rise since 2022. The newspaper boxes follow more efforts from the city and broader county to increase access to Narcan. The drug effectively reverses opioid overdoses while having no impact when administered to people who are not overdosing.
One way the county has worked to provide harm reduction is working with its libraries. Earlier this year, the 17 branches of Monterey County Free Libraries received Narcan in its nasal spray form to use in case of emergency, after the Board of Supervisors approved a new policy.
County librarian Hillary Theyer credits library staff for bringing the idea to have the medication, in case of emergency, to library administration.
But there were also other factors. She mentioned Assembly Bill 24, introduced in Dec. 2022, as a catalyst to starting the conversation about having Narcan stocked at libraries and staff trained on its use.
“That legislation didn’t pass as-is, but that’s what got the conversation going here in Monterey County,” she said. “Then we had people walk donated Narcan into the Seaside Library, into the San Lucas Library, community members just trying to give this product away to save lives … so it really was a groundswell from our communities through our libraries.”
Theyer worked with the county’s board of supervisors, health department and administrative office to develop a policy for Narcan use, and also looked to the Santa Clara Library policy passed last year as a guideline.
Staff can voluntarily watch a video training to learn to administer the medication. Of the nearly 70 staff members, Theyer says over half have watched the video.
The Monterey County Free Library branches aren’t the only local libraries stocking Narcan in case of emergency. Both the Monterey Public Library and Pacific Grove Public Library carry it, too. (While they’re similarly in Monterey County, different directors oversee each respective library.)
Unlike in Monterey County Free Library branches, which keep Narcan in staff-only areas, Monterey Public Library has the Narcan available on top of its AED for anyone to use.
“Because to me, it goes into the community — somebody's gonna get it, somebody's going to need it,” said Brian Edwards, the library and museums director for the City of Monterey. “For me, if something gets missing in that Narcan [supply], I'm going to call the hospital and say, ‘Can we get more?’ You really just want it in the community, in the hands of the people that need it the most.”
Edwards similarly asks staff to watch a video from the California Department of Health before being able to administer the nasal spray.
Theyer said it’s important that Narcan is available in libraries because they’re one of the last places anyone can come without paying admission or having an appointment, and libraries “see across the whole population, rich and poor, little kids to older adults, all varieties of backgrounds in housing and health needs.”
“One of the important things for public libraries to do is be the one who holds up their hand and speaks up to their communities to say, ‘Hey, this is going on in your community. This is what we're seeing,’” she said.
Theyer is now working with the county health department to expand Narcan access, so county library branches can give away the medicine on top of having it accessible in case of emergency.