By EMS1 Staff
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A doctor stressed the importance of everyone having the overdose antidote drug on hand now that Arkansas residents can legally obtain the drug over the counter.
Arkansas Matters reported that Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson announced the Naloxone Standing Protocol Wednesday, which allows residents to purchase naloxone at any pharmacy over the counter.
“It’s not a bad idea for everyone to have Narcan around because you never know when an accident can happen,” Dr. Mark Miedema said.
Dr. Miedema said despite how often opioids are prescribed, doctors only prescribe naloxone along with them around 10 percent of the time.
“If you’re going to take an opioid and you know that one of the side effects could be respiratory infection, and if you took too much even death, you should have medicine around that reverses that,” Dr. Miedema said. “Especially because that’s an emergency and you may not have time to call 911 and wait for an ambulance to come.”
Dr. Miedema said the amount of deaths caused by opioid overdose shows the need for it.
“When you look at accidental deaths within the U.S. in the last year, opioid deaths have surpassed car accidents as the number one cause of accidental deaths, particularly in the age range between 25 and 55,” he said.
Dr. Miedema also stressed that only half of the overdose victims obtained the drugs legally, and those who suffer from overdose through stolen or illicit drugs aren’t typically going to seek out help from the new protocol.
“Someone that’s maybe abusing opioids isn’t going to think, ‘Oh, maybe I should go and get Narcan just in case,’” he said.