Against the dim glow of neon signs, a bright purple box now stands out on the walls of many Huntington bars, aptly mounted alongside fire extinguishers and first aid kits. Though small, this box holds something powerful inside: the ability to save a life.
The ONEbox, invented by Huntington native Joe Murphy, is an emergency opioid overdose reversal kit that has circulated to all 50 states. In addition to its recent adoption in local bars, 30,000 kits have been distributed nationwide, with 400 reported lives saved. Each kit contains naloxone and personal protective equipment, as well as a high-resolution video screen that plays a training video which guides users through the process of administering naloxone.
In the wake of an emergency, a panicked ONEbox user would hear the voice of Huntington’s own Jan Rader, who said she was not aware of the impact she was about to make when she agreed to let Murphy film her explaining a procedure that, for her, had become second nature. “I got a call from Joe, and he said, ‘I’d like to film you talking about how to administer naloxone,’” Rader said. “And of course I said yes, but he didn’t tell me what he was doing.” “So, he filmed me, and then he showed me the finished product, and I literally broke down and cried because we had been trying to get around how to get naloxone out to the average person on the street and empower them to save the life of a friend or a coworker or a family member,” she added.
Although Rader currently serves as the director of the Mayor’s Council of Public Health and Drug Control Policy for the City of Huntington, she served on the frontlines of Huntington’s opioid epidemic, working primarily as the captain of the fire department and working in the emergency room of Cabell Huntington Hospital on her days off. Having witnessed the epidemic at its peak, Rader said the ONEbox was created to make naloxone more accessible for everyone, with the goal of saving lives in as many spaces as possible. Therefore, when a group involved with ONEbox distribution approached the owner of The Lantern at his bar, he said he was happy to oblige.
“Somebody came to us and asked us to join the program, and we thought, ‘Wow, this is worthwhile for society,’” Dirk Harrison said. Although neither Harrison nor his staff have encountered an overdose at The Lantern before, he said having the ONEbox in his business helps him feel more secure in the case of an emergency in the bar or on the street. “These things happen, and so it is a responsible reaction to an issue,” he said. If an overdose were to occur, Harrison said he would be “most happy and proud” that his staff helped save a life.
As for Alex Vence, owner of Boots Spirits and Feed, when he was asked to place a ONEbox in his bar, the benefits outweighed the potential for criticism. “I didn’t see any negative of it,” Vence said. “On the contrary, I saw some positive having it here that – we would never want to use it, of course – but, if we need it, it’s there.” In Feb. 2026, the Huntington Police Department issued a public safety alert after seizing more than 900 candy-shaped tablets laced with fentanyl, an issue that Rader said is ever-growing.
“They’re finding out that a lot of the pills that younger kids buy over the internet are laced with fentanyl,” she said. “And, so, one decision to take a pill to stay up and study all night can be your last time taking medication. It can kill you.”
Vence said the possibility of a bar guest, no matter their background, taking a substance laced with fentanyl was one of the primary reasons he joined the ONEbox movement. “Anymore, the fentanyl, it’s an epidemic, and anything could be laced with it,” he said. “It could be any person for any reason.” Regardless of any negative perspectives on the kits, Vence said, to him, the ONEbox is no different from any other conventional emergency device. “You get other things in airports for heart attacks and for other things, so it shouldn’t be seen as a negative, but some people will, you know, foresee it as that,” he said.
Similarly, Harrison said The Lantern’s ONEbox is mounted beside the fire extinguisher, as both devices are there to assist in crisis. Rader said business owners’ willingness to participate in the program reflects a broader value in Huntington: being of service to someone in need.
“I think it speaks to the compassion that we have in this community that we want to help each other,” Rader said. “I think it’s an Appalachian value that we help those that need a leg up.”
Although neither Harrison nor Vence have had to deploy the kits since placing them in their bars, 45 ONEbox reversals have occurred in Huntington alone since 2022, according to the West Virginia Drug Intervention Institute. Additionally, in the case of an emergency, both Harrison and Vence said they feel their staff members are prepared to utilize the ONEbox due to its straightforward instructions and overall simplicity. No matter the situation or the fears that may come with administering naloxone, Rader said the top priority should be acting quickly. “The number one thing that you have to do before you move forward with people that are suffering from substance use disorder, or maybe just getting hooked on a medication, is you’ve got to keep them alive because once somebody is gone, it’s too late,” she said.
Rader is featured in the 2017 documentary "Heroin(e)," which highlights the efforts of three local women in the midst of Huntington's opioid epidemic. (Courtesy of Netflix)
At the peak of the epidemic in 2017, there were 202 overdose deaths in Cabell County, with 25 overdoses once occurring in a three-hour period of one day in 2016. The most recent statistics report 106 overdose deaths in 2024, with data taking about two years to process, Rader said. The former first responder said these numbers will continue to drop as harm reduction efforts expand.
“One death is too much for me,” Rader said. “So, we still need to keep our foot on the gas. We need to continue to flood the area with naloxone, and the onebox is key."
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