Partying this weekend? Save a life. Get Naloxone without a prescription. NYC pharmacies now offer the life-saving drug, which reverses the effects of a heroin or other opioid overdose without a prescription. Naloxone also is available FREE at community-based drug overdose prevention programs.
More than 1,000 people are expected to die from drug overdoses in in New York City in 2016. That would be the first recorded four-digit death total in city history, according to statistics compiled by the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Nearly half of all unintentional drug overdose deaths in the city since July have involved fentanyl, the health department said Read the full New York Times article
NYC Duane Reade and Walgreen’s locations sell the overdose-reversing drug Naloxone without a prescription. Walgreen’s locations beyond NYC, in the rest of NY State, also are carrying the anti-overdose drug without a prescription.
Naloxone also is available at Rite Aid and CVS pharmacies, and at many independently owned pharmacies, in injectable form, and also as a nose spray.
Visit the Naloxone page at nyc.gov/health for additional information, including to find a participating pharmacy. Or call 311, the NYC information hotline.
With or without a prescription, Naloxoene is a lifesaver. Nationally, fatal heroin doses increased 45 percent from 2006 to 2010.
With or without a prescription, administering the drug requires some training, but that is available FREE through a New York State program announced by Governor Cuomo in 2014.
Training is available at 12 Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS) Addiction Treatment Centers (ATCs) in communities across New York State, for both first responders and the general public.
Participants learn how to recognize an overdose, what to do during an overdose, how to provide rescue breathing during an overdose and how to administer Naloxone. Upon completion of the training, participants will be certified to administer Naloxone and will receive a free Naloxone rescue kit.
Click here for more information.
The drug has been carried by NYPD and, EMS First Responders since 2014, and it’s on hand at hospital emergency centers.
According to Gothamist, an injectable dose costs $3, but many police departments, including the NYPD, use the nasal spray form, which requires a higher concentration but less medical training. This form of Naloxone comes in a kit that used to cost around $20, and now costs in excess of $40.
photo of drug package and insert courtesy Getty Images via Gothamist
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