After 107,000 Americans died from overdoses in 2021, Atlanta pharmacist pushes for better access to Narcan
Atlanta pharmacist pushes for better access to Narcan after spike in opioid overdoses
Last year, more than a 100,000 Americans died from a drug overdose. Many of them involved pain medications known as opioids. That is the highest number of deaths on record in the US. There is a drug that can reverse the effects of an overdose if it is given in time. What is Narcan and how does it work?
ATLANTA - In 2021, the CDC says 107,000 Americans died from a drug overdose, the highest number on record.
Many of those deaths involved powerful opioid, a type of pain medication.
Atlanta pharmacist Ira Katz knows vividly remembers the morning he came outside his Little Five Points Pharmacy and found a man unconscious inside his SUV, who had overdosed.
"I checked for a pulse, a very, very faint pulse, but he was not breathing," Katz remembers. "I got him on the ground, and immediately called my people, ‘Call 911 and get me my Narcan!' Got him on the ground, we administered Narcan, we administered CPR. Thank goodness, we were able to save his life. Plus, we had this available."
Katz, an independent pharmacist and owner of Little Five Points Pharmacy, is talking about Narcan, known generically as naloxone, a drug that can quickly reverse an opioid overdose.
Narcan binds to opioid receptors in the brain and blocks the effects of the narcotic painkillers such as morphine, codeine, oxycodone or illicit drugs like heroin.
If given in time, it can rapidly restore breathing in someone whose breathing has slowed or stopped because of an opioid overdose.
Katz says he and the Little Five Points staff have used the Narcan nasal spray nearly a dozen times over the last few years on people who have overdosed.
"It worked pretty well," he says. "But, again, the very first thing with an overdose is to call 911."
Narcan
Without health insurance, Narcan can cost anywhere from $75 to nearly $150, for two units.
But Dr. Mojgan Zarus' non-profit, the Atlanta Harm Reduction Coalition, offers free Narcan through a partnership with the Georgia Overdose Prevention program, funded by the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health.
Zarus says their goal is to get it out to members of the public.
"That means anyone: loved ones, people who use drugs, anyone," Dr. Zarus says. " If you call, and you say, 'I am in need of Narcan," you can come pick it up. We collect very little information, just data enough for the Department of Behavioral Health to be able to run evaluations and show the effectiveness of the program, and we provide it to you."
Ira Katz has made it his mission to get Narcan and fentanyl test strips out into the community.
"We get it for free, and we give it away for free, to anybody who asks," he says. "You don't need a prescription for this any longer. It is free of charge. This will save lives."
For more information on the Atlanta Harm Reduction Coalition visit atlantaharmreduction.org .
Katz also encourages anyone using drugs to test them before they ingest or inject drugs.
He says inexpensive test strips, which are now legal to purchase and carry in Georgia, can detect the presence of fentanyl in a pill or a powder.
The CDC says fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is up to 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine, and it is a major contributor to fatal and nonfatal overdoses in the US.