Narcan arriving to store shelves after FDA approves over-the-counter sales

ATLANTA - A drug that will reverse the deadly effects of opioids is now available as an over-the-counter medicine. Narcan will start filling pharmacy shelves in the coming days. Naloxone is better known to many as Narcan, and the FDA has approved this as a nasal spray to be sold without a prescription. 

Ira Katz owns the Little 5 Points Pharmacy near downtown Atlanta. He’s been on the front lines of the opioid addiction for a very long time. He and his staff have saved countless lives by administering Narcan to people who’ve overdosed.

"A lot of people have opioids sitting in their medicine cabinets at home," he reminded us. They are a common medicine prescribed for pain. 

With fentanyl now joining the opioid use scene, the numbers of people in every socio-economic group overdosing is rising. It’s everywhere. Elderly patients prescribed opioids can forget what they’ve taken and take too many pills accidentally overdosing. Fentanyl has been known to be left behind in hotels or rental homes causing new renters to unknowingly ingest the fine powder through their fingertips. 

Many medical professionals want everyone to have Narcan handy. According to the Georgia Department of Public Health, from 2019 to 2021 in our state, overdose deaths increased by 61 percent. If a drug has been laced with fentanyl, overdoses are up 230 percent. For comparison, Fentanyl is 100 times more potent than morphine.

Five major retailers have agreed to stock Narcan for OTC sales: Walgreens, CVS, Walmart, Rite Aid, and Kroger. Many independent pharmacies like Little 5 Points Pharmacy will do the same.

"We are seeing 11, 12, 13-year-old kids experimenting. Or, they get it and don't realize," pharmacist Katz said. 

Sometimes opioids like fentanyl are laced into marijuana and other things that young people might try at a high school party just once.

Pharmacies now sell for just a couple of bucks fentanyl test strips after Gov. Kemp approved them to be sold over the counter.

Bar owners, school nurses, parents of teens are all expected to buy up the new over-the-counter Narcan supplies. They will likely be priced at about $45 for two doses of this nasal spray.

"No stigma. Just get the Narcan out there," Katz punctuated. 

A few things of note: If you administer Narcan it can take more than two doses. Always call 911. Even if someone is revived the Narcan can wear off, and the drug that caused the original overdose can still be in the system.

At Little 5 Points Pharmacy, they offer free narcan in conjunction with the Georgia Harm Reduction Coalition.