FDA Makes Narcan Available Over the Counter
STORY AT-A-GLANCE
- No pharmaceutical executive has ever been sent to prison for their role in the drug epidemic they intentionally created and promoted. Meanwhile, entire communities have been devastated and destroyed by addiction
- According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, there were 81,692 fatal opioid-related overdoses in the 12-month period ending in April 2022
- March 29, 2023, the FDA announced it will soon make naloxone (brand name Narcan) — a drug that reverses the fatal effects of an opioid overdose — available over the counter without a prescription
- Instructions on how to use Narcan are provided
- While OTC Narcan may reduce the number of lethal overdoses, it does nothing to address the underlying problem, which is the ease with which people can access opioids
- Opioids were initially approved for breakthrough cancer pain only, and there’s a solid argument to be made for banning opioids for all other uses, especially considering they provide no better pain relief than over-the-counter nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)
In the video above, Joe Rogan interviews journalist Mariana van Zeller, who in 2009 shone a bright light on the drug abuse epidemic with her online documentary series “The OxyContin Express.”1,2
Largely thanks to her reporting, Florida ended up implementing an opioid database so that people can no longer visit multiple doctors and then receive and fill multiple prescriptions. While it has not completely solved the problem, this database has at least reduced the amount of abuse taking place.
Zeller’s husband was also the cinematographer for the 20022 documentary “American Pain,” which details the rise and fall of Chris and Jeff George, identical twins caught trafficking more than 500 million dollars’ worth of opioid pills through a tiny “pill mill” in a Florida strip mall.
No Justice for Victims…