Tunes for Tripp raises money for opioid awareness study

Tripp Norris' love of songwriting continues to impact people even six years after his death.

Tunes for Tripp, a fundraiser honoring Norris' memory after his 2011 death due to a heroin overdose, was held at Aldridge Gardens on Friday, Sept. 29. It was organized by his parents, Vestavia Hills residents Rick and Suzanne Norris, as well as family friends to benefit a UAB study on naloxone and opioid use.

Suzanne Norris said the event started as a backyard birthday party for Rick Norris, where they invited area songwriters to perform. Tripp Norris was a musician and songwriter, and she said her son could almost always be found with a notebook of lyrics in his back pocket.

This is the third year and the first time they've held Tunes for Tripp at a public location. Suzanne Norris said the event has grown from less than 100 people to 250. The invitation-only event featured performances by songwriters Tony Arata, Pete Wasner, Leslie Satcher and Jimmy Robins.

"It feels like, to me, a lot of love and comfort," Suzanne Norris said of the continuing support she and her husband receive from friends and community members. They often share their story at drug awareness events. She said some of Tripp Norris' friends helped put together a video and design T-shirts for the event.

Suzanne Norris said her goal for the evening was to raise $25,000 for the UAB Narcan Project. Naloxone, or Narcan, is a drug that can stop a heroin overdose if administered quickly enough.

"Had his friends had Narcan with them the night he overdosed and injected him, he would be alive today," Suzanne Norris said.

Karen Cropsey, a clinical psychologist at UAB's Department of Psychiatry, is the lead investigator on the Narcan Project, which began about two years ago. Cropsey said the goal is to educate people about naloxone and study its use in the community.

Cropsey's team has given out about 275 naloxone kits so far, to interested community members as well as at high-risk areas such as psychiatric patient intake, drug court and drug abuse treatment centers. Those who choose to participate in her study are trained to recognize the signs of an overdose and use the naloxone injection, and Cropsey assesses their knowledge about opioid use before and after the training.

Cropsey said an important part of the project is training people in pairs, such as a drug user and a family member or friend, to make it more likely that the naloxone can be used effectively.

"By the time you realize you need Narcan, you're passed out and can't administrate it to yourself," Cropsey said.

Her team also follows up with recipients multiple times after receiving the kits. So far, 28 people have reported using the naloxone and "every single person that used their kit saved a life," she said.

A common concern Cropsey said people have about easy access to Narcan is that it will incentivize higher risk drug use, since a tool to stop overdoses is right at hand. However, Cropsey said only one of the 28 uses of the Narcan kits so far has been administered to a person who was part of the study. The rest were used to save other friends or family members.

Additionally, she said 42 percent of the people who were resuscitated by these kits entered rehabilitative treatment.

Cropsey said she wants the Narcan Project to be ongoing and reach new people.

"I would just like to see it more widely accepted in the community," she said.