Life-Saving Narcan Is the First Step to Treating Overdoses

Hi, it’s Tanaz from New York. After advisers to the Food and Drug Administration voted to make Narcan, an opioid overdose reversal medication, available over the counter, I became curious about the challenge of treating people who overdose. But first…

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid at the center of the ongoing overdose crisis in the US, accounting for more than 70,000 of about 108,000 overdose deaths in 2021. Making Narcan, also known as the generic naloxone, widely available could be a big step toward battling that grim statistic. For one thing, it can help family and friends of those who’ve unwittingly overdosed on fentanyl to intervene quickly to administer the drug, potentially saving lives.