In Clark County, it’s chilling to think that many people are only a few degrees of separation from knowing someone who’s died of a drug-related overdose or nearly has. But that’s quickly becoming our reality.
In February, the CDC reported that while most states in the U.S. saw a near 27% drop in overdose deaths in 2024, Nevada remained one of the top states still experiencing an uptick. According to the Southern Nevada Health District, Clark County saw 802 drug overdoses last year, with more than 400 attributable to fentanyl. The synthetic opioid is still the leading cause of fatal overdoses, and in Clark County fentanyl-involved deaths have surged 699.8% in the last six years, according to the SNHD.
Those numbers weigh heavily on Dr. Suzanne Roozendaal, an emergency medicine physician at Sunrise Hospital who deals with the ramifications of Clark County’s drug epidemic everyday.
“It’s something that as an ER physician, I’m seeing more and more of, and it’s such young kids,” says Roozendaal, who also co-owns Barter Beer and Mall, an Arts District antique and arts space. “Every time you [hear], ‘There’s a code coming in, they’re 30 something.’ You’re like, oh God, another overdose, and they just didn’t find them in time.”
That reality also weighs heavily on ReBar manager Matthew “Buck” Buckosh, who has seen one too many nights go from fun to life-threatening. But what’s most frustrating is that training for how to deal with overdoses is severely lacking.
“Every other program that is out there basically is just a distribution program. There’s no education. There’s no backing by a hospital,” Buckosh says. “There’s a lot of Narcan programs out there. Most of the bars out here have it, [but] it’s just that it’s been handed to them, and there’s been no direction on what to do.”
While visiting the Huntridge Tavern Downtown, where Buckosh used to work, Roozendaal conceptualized an idea: What if they distributed the Narcan to the bars and provided a short video to train the staff? A pre-survey could help gauge a bartender’s existing knowledge, and a post-test could reveal how much they retained.
What if bartenders could serve drinks but also save lives?
“I know Suzanne does it all the time, but as bartenders, we don’t do that. It’s not a normal thing for us,” Buckosh says. “I can’t speak for everybody, but I would love to be able to say, ‘Because of all this, we were able to make sure that people didn’t die.’”
The SNHD supplies the naloxone (Narcan) for the program. Meanwhile, the Sunrise Health Emergency Medicine Residency program gathers data from the surveys bartenders fill out. That research could eventually end up in a medical journal, Roozendaal says. “Physicians read medical journals to look at new drugs. But this is a different take on how physicians can be responsible in their own community,” she says.
“When we structured this project, we looked at the zip codes that have the most overdoses and fatalities. The Arts District is right smack dab in the middle of that. Plus, where I live is smack dab in the middle of that. It also affects us personally.”
This trend of overdose prevention advocacy has seemingly swept the nation. Recent reports of people training bartenders on overdose prevention in Florida and Seattle have made a difference.
Now several Downtown Las Vegas bars have joined the movement, including ReBar, Davy’s, Barter Beer and Mall, Stray Pirate, Prowl and Cornish Pasty. Roozendaal and Buckosh have also started working with local store owners including Recycled Propaganda and Main Street Peddlers Antique Mall, because while bartenders are usually the first lines of defense, you never know when a situation may call for your help.
The duo warns against thinking fentanyl-related overdoses only happen with opioids. Recreational drugs can lead to disaster as well.
“It’s the Molly, MDMA, all that, and cocaine,” he says. “A lot of times it’s stimulants that they’re doing that are laced with fentanyl. They’re up until they’re not.”
“Things to look out for are decreased consciousness. If you can open somebody’s eye and their pupil looks like it is really constricted or looks like a little tiny pinpoint, that’s an obvious symptom of overdose,” Roozendaal adds. “Shallow breathing, slow breathing … if you see one or any of those things, be concerned.”
If you’re a bartender or business owner who would like to participate in Roozendaal and Buckosh’s program, email them at: [email protected] and [email protected].
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