What Is Narcan?
Opioid abuse can unexpectedly lead to a drug overdose, especially because many fake pills and illicit drugs are laced with potent opioids such as fentanyl, which is as much as 50 times more potent than heroin. Narcan is a brand-name medication for the drug naloxone, a drug used to reverse the effects of opioid overdose, making it a life-saving medication.
Naloxone counteracts the most dangerous aspect of opioid overdose, which is depressed breathing that may become fatal. Once Narcan is administered, it can take effect in as little as two minutes when it is given intravenously and five minutes if the medication is injected into the muscle. Thousands of lives are saved by Narcan, and first responders will often have the medication on hand, especially considering the high rates of drug overdoses that affect many counties, including Arizona.
For more information on how our addiction treatment programs can help heal drug or alcohol dependence, please give The River Source a call at 866-294-9331.
Who Should Have Narcan on Hand?
While first responders will carry Narcan, other people can also benefit from having Narcan on hand since the opioid-related emergency room visits for Arizona in 2021 were more than 52,000 people. The reality of opioid overdose deaths is genuine; whether you know someone abusing opioids, are using opioids yourself, or just want to help a stranger having an opioid overdose, having Narcan can be life-saving.
With the high rates of overdose on opioids, even a person taking a prescription after surgery can benefit from buying a Narcan kit, especially since Naloxone is relatively cheap. Drug overdose in Arizona is very common, and opioids are the leading cause. It has reached a point where anyone could benefit from carrying Naloxone just in case something happens, giving you the ability to potentially save a life.
Where to Get Narcan in Arizona
With the rapid rise of opioid-related overdoses in Arizona, the Director of the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) has allowed all Arizona-licensed pharmacists to be able to sell one of the three primary forms of Naloxone to any person without a prescription since 2017. This means that you can go to any pharmacy and buy Naloxone under brand names such as Narcan for reasonably cheap, thanks to the health department’s efforts.
How to Use Narcan
One of the easiest ways of administering Naloxone is the Narcan Nasal Spray. If you find a person passed out and unresponsive and after checking their breathing, it appears very slow and shallow, and their lips have turned grayish or blue in color, then Narcan should be used. You should call 911 immediately if they are unresponsive to shaking, shouting, and knuckles grinding on their chest bone for 5 to 10 seconds.
Take the Narcan Nasal Spray out of the box and peel the tab back. Remove the medication only when you are ready to use it. Tilt the person’s head back while supporting the back of their neck, and then take the nasal spray, holding your thumb on the plunger below and your index and middle finger on either side of the nozzle. Insert the nozzle into one nostril up to your fingers and firmly press the plunger with your thumb. Repeat the steps with the second dose if there is still no response after two minutes.
Drug Rehab and Overdose Prevention at The River Source
The best way to prevent an overdose is to get into an addiction treatment program to treat the real causes of substance abuse so that opioid abuse can be stopped at the root. The River Source provides a comprehensive opioid addiction treatment program in Arizona that has every element of effective treatment and behavioral health care with a focus on long-term recovery.
Get the help you or a loved one needs today by calling The River Source at 866-294-9331. Our inpatient and outpatient rehab programs will help to free you or a loved one from the grips of addiction and help with substance use prevention.
