Jan. 13—Free Narcan is available outside the Moscow Food Co-op as part of Latah Recovery Center’s effort to keep people safe from opioid overdoses.

Darrell Keim, executive director of the Latah Recovery Center in Moscow, said the medication that reduces the effects of opioids is available to anyone who needs it. A box of Narcan has been recently installed next to the Moscow Food Co-op parking lot and in the Campus Christian Center on the University of Idaho campus where the Vandal Recovery outreach program meets.

“The reason we’re doing this is we’re hoping to keep the people alive long enough to enter into recovery,” Keim said.

People can open the box and take what they need for free, he said. The boxes also contain safe sex supplies like condoms.

He said the box at the Co-op will be there for about three months and then moved to a different location in town. He believes this will increase awareness of the box around the community.

“My thought is, people get used to seeing something if it’s always in the same spot and they stop seeing it,” he said. “So if they rotate it, different people will be walking by different locations.”

There are QR codes on the side of the boxes that can link people to the Latah Recovery Center’s calendar and an online tutorial on how to use Narcan.

He said Narcan is as easy to use as a nasal decongestant. He added, however, that those who administer Narcan still need to call 911 because one dose may not be enough to completely counter the opioids.

Narcan has been available at the Latah Recovery Center for years. Keim said in the past 12 months, the nonprofit has given out 112 doses. Seven people have notified the nonprofit that they used the Narcan.

“I would assume that’s a low number because most of the time we’re not going to be notified of that,” he said.

Kuipers can be reached at akuipers@dnews.com.