Gov. Jay Nixon signed into law House Bill 1568. The new law will expand access to Naloxone, a lifesaving drug proven to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. Under the new legislation, pharmacists are now able to sell and distribute naloxone commonly known by its brand name Narcan. In addition, anyone who administers the drug to an individual who has overdosed on an opioid will be protected from disciplinary actions. The law is set to take effect on August 28.
In a continuation of my conversation with neurosurgeon Dr. Joel Ray of Saint Francis Medical Center, we breakdown what you need to know about the drug some have called the antidote to opioid overdoses.
Lewis-Thompson: Can you explain exactly what naloxone is and how it works when it enters someone's body?
Ray: Well, it can enter through a variety of methods. You can put it into the intravenous system. You can put it in the muscle. The best way to get it in if you have an emergency situation is going to be with an intravenous. And it works pretty quickly within a few minutes and so you can actually give a series of doses so that you can be sure. A lot of times it's given in situations where you don't have a great history from the patient, because they're having the effects of the drugs--the opioids. And so, it's a pretty safe drug. And then when it works what it does is that it goes to the same place that the opioids work, and it kind of displaces them so that you can then have this sort of blocking the space. And so the opioid doesn't interact. They compete with each other for the site and then you can reverse the action of the narcotic.
Lewis-Thompson: So what happens when said individual overdoses and they're given naloxone? Are the some of the side effects shaking among other things?
Ray: Those can be side effects. But the basic effect would be a very rapid withdrawal of the narcotics. So, it would be as though they almost as though they hadn't taken the narcotic. They would wake up and in the process have the side effects of the naloxone or Narcan as it's called.
Lewis-Thompson: Naloxone is also known as Narcan and it can be administered via a nasal spray, but what other ways can it be administered to a person outside of that?
Ray: Intramuscular and intravenous. The fastest route would be intravenous. I think that typically you're going to see the health care provider trying to give it that way. If you don't have access then giving it nasally is a good route. Intramuscular takes longer for it to have an effect and a lot of times you're trying to see what type of dose you're going to end up giving. And so, giving a number of doses can often help make it more effective.
Lewis-Thompson: So is this something anyone could pick up at a place like Walgreens, or is this something that a physician would have to prescribe?
Ray: It's going to be a prescription concept. I think it's going to be a provider that does that. I think that when you're giving Narcan it's going to be in a pretty urgent situation, and there sort of needs to be a kind of 911 situation you know. It's either you're in an emergency room, an ambulance, maybe a police officer, someone that is really well trained at the physiology of the patient and doing some basic assessments. At a personal level I don't see this just being distributed like let's take care of the problem. Having this at a drug party and someone wasn't doing well, give a little Narcan. I can't speak for the medical community, but I can speak for myself I would be going 'guys you need to get this person some help.' And you just pick up the phone and dial 911, because that person's probably in trouble.
That was KRCU’sMarissanne Lewis-Thompson speaking with neurosurgeon Dr. Joel Ray about the lifesaving opioid drug naloxone.
