ALLAMUCHY, NJ - In the event of an overdose, it’s the difference between life and death. And today in New Jersey, pharmacies are distributing it to customers at zero-cost to them.
“People need to understand that we’re going through a crisis in this state and this is just one weapon against it.”
Naloxone, also called by its brand name Narcan, is an overdose reversal drug and experts say it helps save lives. For one day only, pharmacies are giving it away for free on a first-come basis as part of a pilot program approved by the New Jersey Board of Pharmacy. It’s a 1.5-million-dollar state-wide effort to combat the opioid epidemic in the Garden State; just a fraction of Democratic Governor Phil Murphy’s 100-million-dollar opioid initiative.
Some people were calling from half hour, forty-five minutes away to come here,” says Panther Valley Pharmacist employee Tatiana Rodriguez; “It says a lot that people would come from far away just for that. Or go out of their way to go to work, just to come here for that.”
In 2018, the state’s health department says new jersey saw more than 3 thousand overdose deaths. Here in warren county, 29 people died last year due after overdosing; with victims ranging in age from 54 to as young as 22.
“We ended up buying it when he was in the middle of his addiction so that we had it at the house because he did overdose at our house a couple of times where 911 had to be called, says Allamuchy resident Samantha Newton, “So we wanted to have it in the house just in case.”
The 25-year-old knows how important having Narcan ready is. Her brother has been struggling with a heroin addiction for two years now. She says when her family heard the state was helping provide this life saving drug for free today only, she made sure she was one of the first at her local pharmacy to pick a kit up before they run out; “Fortunately, he is in rehab right now. He’s been clean for seven months, but you know as soon as he gets out we don’t know what it’s going to be like,” she says, “So my mom just wanted to have it for a precaution, just in case he does decide to come home and use again.”
The pharmacist behind the counter helping Newton is Anny Chan. Today, she’ll be giving the overdose reversal drug away anonymously and without prescription to customers who simply come in and ask. She says because overdoses are such a norm now, it’s important the drug is widely available, and everyone knows how to administer the lifesaving drug in a moment of crisis.
“What Narcan does is it actually competes and kicks the opiates out. So it reverses the overdose and it brings your respiratory back into normal breathing,” explains Chan. She says, “You don’t need to have any kind of medical certification whereas the old ones that paramedics or EMTs had, it’s an injection type of thing. So you actually have to put the whole entire contraption together in order to do that.”
Last year, first responders across New Jersey administered Narcan 16 thousand times. Now anyone from teachers to bank tellers and family members to neighbors can be prepared when an overdose strikes.
Free Naloxone
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It's free Naloxone distribution day across New Jersey.
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