Nonprofit Hopes To Distribute Opioid Antidote In Minnesota

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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- A Minnesota nonprofit is planning to give away 24,000 doses of the opioid overdose reversal drug naloxone to anyone in the state who might need it.

The number of naloxone doses the Steve Rummler Hope Network plans to distribute this year to police officers, parents, first responders and drug rehab staffers quadruples the group's effort from last year. The nonprofit gave away 6,000 doses in 2016.

The Star Tribune reports the group's plans this year are possible because of a $200,000 state grant.

The state Health Department says more than 500 people died from opioid overdoses in Minnesota in 2015. That's a 600 percent increase from 2000.

The parents of Steve Rummler founded the nonprofit after their son died of an overdose in 2011.