Podcast: Campus Naloxone Access and Destigmatizing Substance Use Disorders

Chelby Drafts, Miss Golden Corner 2026, joined host Frank Clark, MD, on this episode of “Psyched Perspectives” to discuss her advocacy for naloxone access on college campuses and for reducing stigma toward people with substance use disorders.

Drafts grew up on a chicken farm in rural Gilbert, South Carolina, and is the first on her biological mother’s side of the family to attend college. Her advocacy is personal: her biological mother has a substance use disorder, something Drafts kept private as a teenager because she believed she was alone. She later learned millions of children have at least 1 parent with an addiction, and she said she is determined to break that cycle in her family.

Naloxone on Campus

Drafts brought the idea of campus naloxone access to state Sen Tedder, who wrote a bill that passed and takes effect next year. The law makes naloxone (Narcan), an opioid antagonist that rapidly reverses opioid overdose, available at all public colleges and universities in the state. It also educates students and faculty on how to use it and how to recognize an overdose. Drafts said college students are still figuring out who they are, and she wanted to make sure being harmed would not be among their mistakes.

Clark compared the measure to safe-sex education in schools. He said he has treated patients in the emergency department who likely would not have survived an opioid overdose without naloxone. He added that some patients develop a substance use disorder after a dental procedure or surgery.

Stigma in Rural Communities

“No one asks to become addicted to something,” Drafts said. She added that empathy and understanding are the starting points for reducing stigma, and she pointed to rural communities’ limited access to naloxone, prevention education, and health care.

On faith communities, Drafts said spiritual support and connection matter but must be paired with physical resources, such as referrals to organizations offering free rehabilitation and career services. Clark noted faith does not protect anyone from developing a substance use disorder or other psychiatric illness. Drafts plans to visit churches to teach congregations what substance misuse looks like and how they can help.

Next Steps

Drafts hopes to take the South Carolina law national and to expand resources in the state’s rural areas. She planned to serve as a page at the South Carolina State House in August to build relationships with legislators. She has also created a prevention-focused school presentation, “You Hold the Pen,” which teaches emotional regulation and coping skills.

“You hold the pen to your own story,” Drafts said, describing her message to young women who grew up facing adversity. “You decide what happens next in your future.”

Ms Drafts is a student advocate for substance use disorder awareness and naloxone access policy in South Carolina.

Dr Clark is an outpatient psychiatrist at Prisma Health-Upstate and clinical associate professor at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine, Greenville. He served on the American Psychiatric Association’s Task Force to Address Structural Racism Throughout Psychiatry, and he currently serves as the Diversity and Inclusion section editor and advisory board member for Psychiatric Times.