Volunteers to build naloxone kits Aug. 31 in Anchorage after 238 opioid deaths in 2025

Volunteers will build naloxone kits Monday, Aug. 31, for distribution across Alaska, as state health officials report 238 Alaskans died of opioid overdoses in 2025. The preliminary figure comes from the Alaska Department of Health's Health Analytics and Vital Records Section.

The build falls on International Overdose Awareness Day, a global observance that honors people lost to overdose and supports affected families while pushing communities toward prevention. The 2025 count follows a downward trend. The state's 2024 mortality update recorded 276 opioid overdose deaths, down from 286 in 2023, a decline in the death rate from 39.7 to 37.6 per 100,000 people. Total overdose deaths fell 5%, from 357 in 2023 to 339 in 2024.

The Alaska Department of Health is organizing the event with the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, Volunteers of America Alaska and the Anchorage Health Department. It runs from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Fairview Recreation Center, 121 E. 10th Ave. Setup is scheduled from 8 to 10 a.m., assembly from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and takedown from 3 to 4 p.m. Volunteers must register for each time slot separately through SignUpGenius. No experience is required.

The kits contain naloxone nasal spray, which reverses an opioid overdose. Project HOPE, the state's harm reduction program, distributes the kits at no cost. Since 2017, the program and its partners have assembled and distributed more than 57,000 kits, working with 131 organizations designated as Overdose Response Programs.

The Anchorage Reentry Coalition will hold a Reentry Simulation at the same center from noon to 3 p.m. that day. It requires separate registration and attendance for the full three-hour session, with no drop-ins.

State guidance has paired naloxone distribution with other measures. A 2021 Public Health Alert Network bulletin urged providers to expand naloxone access while connecting patients to treatment. At an April 15, 2026, legislative Lunch & Learn on the Alaska Fentanyl Response Project, Jack Carson said, "This is not something that the Anchorage Police Department or the Alaska State Troopers can arrest our way out of."