What You Need To Know About Narcan

There’s an emerging bipartisan political consensus that cities need to get Narcan—a life-saving drug that reverses the effects of an opioid overdose—into the hands of as many people as can responsibly administer it. And a new Safer Cities poll with Data For Progress (methodology) shows that an overwhelming majority of Americans would welcome that change.

1. Narcan—also known as “Naloxone”—Saves Lives.

• “Naloxone quickly reverses an overdose by blocking the effects of opioids. It can restore normal breathing within 2 to 3 minutes in a person whose breath has slowed, or even stopped, as a result of opioid overdose.” U.S. Centers For Disease Control and Prevention

• “With naloxone, anyone can help save the life of someone who’s having an opioid overdose . . . Without naloxone, the risk of an overdose being fatal is significant.” U.S. Food and Drug Administration

• A Pennsylvania opioid overdose study found: “Individuals who received at least one dose of naloxone following overdose had 11 times greater odds of survival.” And there are similarly favorable results from studies in Boston and Peoria (Illinois).

• “It’s always best to use Narcan if you think someone is overdosing” because “Narcan cannot hurt someone” even “if they’re overdosing on drugs other than opioids” or not overdosing. 

2. Voters Say First Responders Should Be Required To Carry Narcan

• Four-in-five voters (85%) support requiring first responders—firefighters, police officers, and other community responders—to carry Narcan. (methodology)

Law enforcement should carry Narcan. But only 15% of departments do. That’s changing rapidly. Here are three recent stories from local police departments that illustrate the changing views within departments where officers carry Narcan:

• Wichita, Kansas: “When officers are first on the scene, we want them to be outfitted with the tools to possibly save someone's life.” That’s what Wichita Police Captain, Travis Rakestraw, said after one of his sergeants was waved over to a car by a driver who said his friend was dying after experiencing an overdose. Captain Rakestraw told the local ABC affiliate that the sergeant “applied two doses to this individual who within a very short amount of time started to come out of it, became responsive and breathing better.”

• Springfield, Massachusetts: “This has been an incredibly important program for our community, demonstrated by the over 300 life-saving doses our officers have given in three years. We know that seconds can be the difference between life and death after an opioid overdose, and the Narcan kits are a critical tool for officers to have at their disposal and to be able to use at a moment's notice, especially as police officers are oftentimes first on the scene for many types of calls.” —Police Superintendent Cheryl Clapprood.

• Hot Springs, Arkansas: “We literally save dozens of lives a year” through the “naloxone program [that] allows our officers to carry a reversal medication that reverses the overdose to allow for EMS and proper medical treatment to be given to those individuals.” –Police Chief Chris Chapmond. 

All First Responders Should Carry Narcan. 

• Why? First, more is more. We simply need to increase the number of people carrying Narcan. But there is another reason: 20% of Narcan users in one recent study said that they feared that they would be arrested if 911 was called, and when people fear arrest they are less likely to seek help reversing an overdose.

• Who else should carry Narcan? Medics and firefighters have been carrying and administering Narcan for years. The recent proliferation of mobile crisis responders presents another opportunity. For example, in Eugene, Oregon, the CAHOOTS program trains all of its responders to carry and use Narcan. And the U.S. Health and Human Services Department issued guidance earlier this year encouraging “community-based mobile crisis intervention teams [to] carry naloxone and have team members trained in its administration to reverse opioid overdoses.”

3. Voters Say Cities Should Get Cost-Free Narcan Directly Into Community Organizations and Businesses

• Three-in-four voters support providing cost-free Narcan to local churches and stores in communities with a high number of overdose deaths (methodology)

• Getting Narcan Into Schools. Camden County, New Jersey, announced recently that it will put Narcan in every school in the county. As Camden’s head prosecutor told the Courier Post, the idea had broad support among local leaders because “equipping every school in Camden County with Naloxboxes puts life saving drugs within ready reach for quick administration to an overdose victim.” Camden isn’t alone. Just last month, Los Angeles County, the most populous county in America, announced a plan to put cost-free Narcan in all schools in the district. And, in Ohio, the Lucas County Health Department is working with school districts to get Narcan into the hands of school nurses and other staff.

• Getting Narcan Into Libraries. Three years ago, Daphne Smith, who works for the Cook County Department of Public Health, lost her daughter to an opioid overdose. Now, she’s running the department’s successful effort to get Narcan into the county’s public libraries. Smith told the Chicago Tribune that making Narcan more available in everyday settings could have saved her daughter: “If I knew about Narcan, she may still be here … I want people to have this. I don’t want you to always have to use it, but if you need it, I want you to have access.” In addition to Cook County (Chicago), other recent cities that got Narcan into libraries include: Seattle, Fort Wayne (Indiana), and Arlington (Virginia).

• Getting Narcan Into Nightclubs and Restaurants. New York City will provide restaurants and nightclubs with Narcan. As Mayor Eric Adams explained: “Having people around who can respond—including our partners in the nightlife industry—can save lives. Moreover, it is a message: As New Yorkers, we look out for each other, and we care.” 

4. Friends and Neighbors Use Narcan To Prevent Overdose Deaths.

• Anyone can carry Narcan. As the CDC’s National Center For Injury Prevention and Control explains, “with the right tools, bystanders can act to prevent overdose deaths. Anyone can carry naloxone, give it to someone experiencing an overdose, and potentially save a life.” 

• Narcan Vending Machines. In Vine Grove, Kentucky, it was the police chief who had the idea to install a vending machine where people could obtain cost-free Narcan anonymously. The chief, Kenneth Mattingly, told the local NPR station that the idea came to him after he responded to a 911 call where a “young lady who lived in this apartment had a friend come over. He took something in her bathroom and she heard him fall over … She’s a recovering addict herself and she had a dose available to her that she got in one of her previous rehabs, and saved his life.” Narcan vending machines have also appeared in Austin, Detroit, Las Vegas, New York City, Rockford (Wisconsin), San Diego and Tacoma.

• Training Community Bystanders. In addition to equipping people with Narcan, training bystanders can increase their ability to recognize an overdose and their confidence to intervene. A program at the University of Rhode Island, for example, that trains community members to carry and administer Narcan has already seen results: Michael Aubin, a local resident who took the training, later used the Narcan kits he received just two days later and credits the training for giving him the confidence to do it:  “I was in the right place at the right time. I wasn’t nervous at all. Just when I thought I would never need it, I did and it saved a life.