New Orleans hospital gives out overdose reversal drug for free after year of record-high deaths
Drug overdoses hit a record high in 2021, killing over 100,000 Americans.
Health officials are now working to increase public access to the overdose reversal drug naloxone, commonly known as Narcan. Without a prescription, Narcan can cost over $100 at the pharmacy, but now a hospital in New Orleans is giving out the life-saving drug for free.
“This drug is not new,” said Dr. Peter DeBlieux with University Medical Center New Orleans. “Discovering ways to effectively get it in the hands of patients and their loved ones is new.”
In Louisiana alone, overdose deaths have doubled in the last two years.
“The hope is that people actually use this, and it saves lives,” DeBlieux said. “With opioid overdoses, we often times see decreased respiration and respiratory failure before death. This drug, given nasally, just squirted into the nose can reverse that process.” – READ MORE
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