Advisers to the F.D.A. would be safe to sell Narcan over the counter
Narcosis is Safe and Effective for Infants and Adults as a Drug Overdose-Reversal Injection, Reveals a Panel Discussion
Public health experts think if more people were to have the spray at home or in their pockets, many deaths could be avoided.
Losing money is devastating. Drug overdose deaths, largely caused by the synthetic opioid drug fentanyl, reached record highs in the United States in 2021. You should know how to keep your loved ones safe.
Don’t forget to go to a licensed pharmacy. Fentanyl can be found in prescription drugs that are sold online or by unlicensed dealers. Only pills that your doctor prescribed are allowed to be taken.
If you see someone with a suspected overdose, it’s time for you to call the police. Even if they took fentanyl or another opioid, there is a chance they could have also had something else in their drug supply that may not respond to naloxone.
In recommending that the spray become as easily available as ibuprofen, the 19 voting panelists determined that naloxone, which was approved as an overdose-reversal injection in 1971, is abundantly safe and effective even in infants, with almost no potential for misuse or abuse. And, the panels concluded, naloxone does not require medical training to use.
Panel members said that side effects were not as bad as they were compared to the medicine’s benefit. It is believed that Naloxone has saved hundreds of thousands of lives.
The drug blocks the effects of opiates on the brain. Drugs can affect the respiratory system and other bodily functions. It is possible to wake a person from a fatal overdose by taking Narcan before it is too late. The instructions on the two-pack carton say that the Narcan administrator should apply one dose in the nostril of a person suspected of having overdosed and then call 911. If the person does not wake up in a few minutes, a second dose can be applied in the other nostril.
Do your children know that fake drugs are often contaminated with the drug Fentanyl? A tiny amount can stop their breathing and be fatal. It’s like playing Russian roulette, when you don’t know whether a product could Contain Fentanyl.
I talked to Leana Wen who is a professor at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health and an emergency physician, to find out more about these medications. The Behavioral Health Group is a network of outpatient treatment and recovery centers around the United States. She served as health commissioner of Baltimore and oversaw the city’s opiate prevention strategy.
The antidote, known as naloxone, is an antidote that can reverse the effects of some pain killers. Naloxone can be used as a spray and injection.
There are instances in which patients are given Fentanyl in appropriate medical settings. Fentanyl is being diverted from a legitimate medical purpose, which is why most of the overdoses aren’t due to it.
I would highly advise that anyone using opioids — whether it’s prescribed opioids or illicit drugs — to carry naloxone with them. If they are overdosing themselves, they can’t save their own life, but people using drugs are likely to be around others who use, too, and they can help to revive others. In addition, they could tell friends and family in advance where their naloxone is, so that people around them can administer it if they are found unresponsive.
Wen: Naloxone can be used to reverse heroin overdoses. It doesn’t work against benzodiazepines, a different class of drugs from opioids. It also does not appear to work against xylazine, which is a tranquilizer not approved for use in humans but is commonly used to sedate large animals, such as horses. Xylazine can also be found in other drugs, and can be fatal.
