North Bay family finds innovative way to distribute Narcan

SONOMA COUNTY, Calif. (KRON) — A family in Sonoma County has found an innovative way to offer Narcan for free, using repurposed newspaper boxes to distribute the life-saving drug. Narcan, also known as Naloxone, is used to reverse overdoses caused by fentanyl, a potent opioid that has led to a surge in overdose deaths.

“He was clean for about seven or eight months, he was living with his mother, and he relapsed, and she actually found him in her garage the next morning and he had passed,” said Michelle Sawyer, co-founder of Micah’s Hugs.

Micah Sawyer Jr., once a promising football star at Analy High School, died from a fentanyl overdose at the age of 22. His family started Micah’s Hugs to raise awareness about the dangers of fentanyl and distribute Narcan for free.

Initially, the Sawyer family faced stigma in Sonoma County, with people often prejudging who might need Narcan. However, over the last six years, they have seen this stigma dwindle and have successfully given away 13,000 cases of Narcan.

This year, they have become more innovative in their distribution methods by repurposing old newspaper boxes from the Press Democrat and filling them with Narcan. These boxes are placed in various locations, including Petaluma, Guerneville, and Cloverdale.

Michelle Sawyer explained that they have repurposed and painted the boxes, adding graphics to make them more noticeable. They currently have four boxes out and have recently acquired three more.

In addition to Narcan, the Sawyer family also distributes fentanyl test strips to the public.

All facts in this report were gathered by journalists employed by KRON4. Artificial intelligence tools were used to reformat from a broadcast script into a news article for our website. This report was edited and fact-checked by KRON4 staff before being published.