UW campuses to get free Narcan to fight opiate overdoses

MADISON - University of Wisconsin schools are getting free Narcan to combat opiate overdoses on campus. 

"We are working to expand access and affordability of this life-saving drug," Attorney General Brad Schimel said at a Capitol news conference 

"This life-saving drug is critical when a person goes into an opiate overdose, which we know is happening thousands and thousands of times every year in Wisconsin." 

Narcan, a brand of the generic drug naloxone, is a nasal spray that pulls people out of overdoses.

Adapt Pharma, the maker of Narcan, is providing the drug to the Wisconsin schools. It will be first provided to their police departments and may eventually be given to resident assistants in student housing, UW System President Ray Cross said.

Receiving the drug will be UW-Eau Claire, UW-Green Bay, UW-La Crosse, UW-Madison, UW-Oshkosh, UW-Platteville, UW-River Falls, UW-Stevens Point, UW-Stout and UW-Superior. 

Three other campuses — UW-Milwaukee, UW-Parkside and UW-Whitewater — already have gotten free Narcan from other sources, Cross said.