U.S. Urges Public to Carry Opioid Overdose Drug in Rare Step
- Surgeon General wants Americans to keep naloxone on hand
- First national advisory since 2005 amid opioid crisis
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The U.S. surgeon general urged Americans to keep the opioid overdose antidote naloxone on hand and get trained to administer it, making the first nationwide advisory in 13 years amid the epidemic.
“It is time to make sure more people have access to this lifesaving medication, because 77 percent of opioid overdose deaths occur outside of a medical setting and more than half occur at home,” U.S. Surgeon General Jerome M. Adams said in a statement Thursday.