Narcan Can Save an Opioid User ’ s Life. What to Know About the Drug

In the U.S., a record-setting 81,000 people died from overdoses involving opioids in 2021. But despite that grim number, there’s hope: medications like buprenorphine can treat opioid-use disorder, while harm-reduction methods such as needle exchanges can limit threats like infectious disease. There’s also another promising tool, naloxone. The emergency medication reverses the effects of opioids on the brain for 30 to 90 minutes, allowing people who have overdosed on an opioid to start breathing again. Distributed as an injectable drug or nasal spray sold under the brand name Narcan, it can save lives. For it to work, however, there needs to be someone at the drug user’s side to help them as quickly as possible. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] “The family and friends of those who use drugs are the actual first responders,” says Gina Dahlem, a clinical associate professor at University of Michigan School of Nursing. For this reason, she says, it’s essential that anyone who might be around someone who uses drugs has easy access to naloxone and knows how to use it. Here’s what to know about Narcan and how to get it. What is naloxone, or Narcan? Naloxone is a medication that temporarily blocks the effects of opioids (such as heroin, fentanyl, or oxycodone) by bonding to opioid receptors, which are located across the central nervous system. The medication comes in two forms: a nasal spray, sold as Narcan or as a generic alterna...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized Drugs healthscienceclimate Source Type: news