Augusta University Deploys Narcan Boxes Across Downtown with $66K Opioid Grant

Augusta University snagged two grants worth $66,000. The funds will place Narcan boxes in 40 downtown shops and all five campuses. The Georgia Opioid Crisis Abatement Trust awarded the money during Public Health Day.

The university teamed up with Open Arms Outreach for the project. Bars, restaurants, and nightclubs throughout Richmond County will get the boxes. Ten local vape shops will receive 50 fentanyl test-strip boxes.

Nicoll Gentry co-founded Open Arms Outreach. She's been sober for three years after someone used Narcan to reverse her overdose. "I wouldn't be here today if it weren't for Narcan," Gentry said, per WRDW.

Richmond County Coroner's Office counted 76 drug deaths in 2025. Opioids caused 37 of them. The county ranks near the top statewide for drug-related deaths.

"The opioid crisis has devastated countless families in Georgia and across our nation, and these grants represent an important step toward saving lives in our own community," President Russell T. Keen said in a statement.

Teresa Waters leads the School of Public Health as dean. She explained that fentanyl and other synthetic opioids keep driving fatal overdoses in Georgia. Overdose deaths jumped 76% between 2019 and 2022. Deaths involving fentanyl shot up more than 300% during those same years.

Drug overdose deaths across the nation fell 24% for the 12 months ending in September 2024. That's according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Georgia's decline hit 22%.

The first grant provides over $37,000 for downtown boxes and test strips. The second grant supplies nearly $29,000 and supports a partnership between the school, the Office of Critical Event Preparedness and Response, and Student Health Services.

This money will distribute boxes across all four campuses. Twenty boxes already sit on the Summerville campus.