After a decade of heroin use and jail time for drug crimes, William Perry said he knew it was time to get sober.
Inspired by his own journey and sensing a need, he founded a nonprofit called This Must Be The Place. The goal is to normalize the use of naloxone, a life-saving drug that can reverse an overdose from opioids like heroin or fentanyl.
This Must Be The Place targets environments where hard drugs are often abundant: music festivals.
At the Kilby Block Party and other festivals across the country this summer, Perry and his team will be handing out free doses of Kloxxado, a nasal spray containing naloxone.
Perry said they aim to equip people with the tools to respond if they witness an overdose.
“When it comes to the opioid epidemic, and this is really unfortunate, but you have to throw out all of your preconceived notions about red state, blue state, reactionary things to this at the ground level,” Perry said. “Because this has affected nearly every family at this point.”
Kloxxado is small enough to fit in a pants pocket. Some keep it in glove boxes or attach it to backpacks.
Perry said the nasal spray is easy to administer.
“You don’t have to poke anybody. This isn’t ‘Pulp Fiction’ where we’re stabbing a long needle through the breastplate or anything like that,” he said. “This stuff doesn’t have any side effects, so you can never hurt anyone by giving it to them. It only does one thing which is block any more of the fentanyl from getting into that person’s system causing them to wake up.”
More information and instructions about how to get free overdose prevention medication can be found here.
