Can the Opioid Crisis Be Addressed Over the Counter?
A program coordinator for the nonprofit Family and Medical Counseling Service Inc. holds a box of Narcan Nasal Spray in Seat Pleasant, Maryland, U.S., on Thursday, June 10, 2021.
Photographer: Richard Willams/Bloomberg
Hi, it’s Fiona in New York. Opioid overdoses in the US are on the rise, but life-saving medicine now available over the counter could be a game changer. More on that later...
More than 100,000 Americans died of drug overdoses in 2021, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While drug-overdose deaths have been a growing issue in the US for some time, it has accelerated alarmingly in recent years, more than doubling between 2015 and 2021.
And while the data suggests the pandemic had a role to play in that surge, another statistic speaks to a new dimension to the problem: the surge in illicit fentanyl. Around 70,000 deaths in 2021 were due to fentanyl-related drug overdoses.
This fentanyl-fueled crisis has forced lawmakers to take action, including by expanding access to opioid overdose reversal drugs. This year US regulators have made two opioid reversal drugs available without a prescription. Until recently, the medication was only available through medical professionals at pharmacies or health centers, which created a barrier to access the treatment. This approval allows the medication to be bought at retail drugstores, convenience stores, gas stations and online.