Narcan

Health & Safety

An overdose drug is finally over-the-counter. Is that enough to stop the death toll?

5:10am September 26, 2023

Narcan is now available in drug stores without a prescription. The nasal spray can save a life by stopping an opioid overdose. But will people pay the price and ask for it by name?

The Food and Drug Administration is weighing a decision to make naxolone, pictured here in nasal spray form as Narcan, available over the counter without a prescription.

Health & Safety

Over-the-counter Narcan will save lives, experts say. But the cost will affect access

7:03am February 18, 2023

by Emma Bowman

Advisers to the FDA put the opioid overdose-reversal drug a step closer to being sold without a needing a prescription. Even if approved, the medication may not reach many people who need it.

Drugs

Overdose-reversing drug now available from free vending machine in Forsyth

6:05pm August 26, 2022

by Paul Garber

Forsyth County health officials have added a vending machine at the county detention center that offers the overdose-reversing drug Narcan (Naloxone).

Health & Safety

Narcan is now available at the Forsyth County Department of Public Health

6:00am January 04, 2022

by Bethany Chafin

The opioid overdose reversal drug Narcan (naloxone) is now available at the front desk of the Forsyth County Department of Publi

Louise Vincent, executive director of the North Carolina Survivors Union, holds a vial of the overdose reversal drug naloxone. "Almost everyone that comes here is alive because of naloxone," Vincent says.

Health & Safety

To save lives, overdose antidote should be sold over-the-counter, advocates argue

4:01am December 14, 2021

by Aneri Pattani

With opioid overdoses surging, harm-reduction groups are calling on the FDA to change naloxone's prescription-only status. This would make it easier to get the lifesaving drug to people at risk.

Emily Ligawiec (right) and Officer Jon Cacela take weekly pottery classes together in Ware, Mass. Rather than arrest Ligawiec last winter when she took heroin and stole her mom's car, he offered her help.

National

Police Offering Drug Recovery Help: 'We Can't Arrest Our Way Out Of This Problem'

8:03am February 08, 2020

by Karen Brown

Police departments are toning down the law enforcement, and offering drug users recovery help instead. But convincing drug users to accept the help is not easy.

Queue Listen Now

A man who goes by the name Dave Carvagio holds a packaged syringe in Pickering Square in Bangor, Maine. The Bangor chapter of the Church of Safe Injection sets up a table in the square and offers free naloxone, needles and other drug-using supplies.

'Church Of Safe Injection' Offers Needles, Naloxone To Prevent Opioid Overdoses

7:27am February 12, 2019

by Deborah Becker

The group says it has 18 chapters in eight states, all of them funded by private, anonymous donations. Members distribute free and clean drug-use supplies even at the risk of being arrested.

Queue Listen Now

"People have to be alive to get the help that they need," said Brittney Webster, who got free naloxone at a health center in Carlisle, Pa.

Health & Safety

In Pennsylvania, People Lined Up For Free Naloxone

4:43pm December 14, 2018

by Brett Sholtis

Across the state, volunteers in Pennsylvania distributed naloxone on Thursday. The drug reverses the effects of opioid overdose. The giveaway was part of a state plan to combat the opioid epidemic.

Nurse Denied Life Insurance Because She Carries Naloxone

10:28am December 13, 2018

by Martha Bebinger

The U.S. surgeon general has called on "bystanders" to be equipped with the opioid reversal drug to save lives. But when a nurse answered that call, her application for life insurance was denied. Why?

Queue Listen Now

A Philadelphia police officer holds a package of the overdose antidote naloxone while on patrol in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia in April 2017.

Health & Safety

Opioid Antidote Can Save Lives, But Deciding When To Use It Can Be Challenging

3:24pm October 29, 2018

by Nina Feldman

Public health officials says it's simple to save the lives of people experiencing an opioid overdose: Give an antidote. But for a bystander, that intervention can be daunting.