CHESAPEAKE, Va. — A life-saving drug will soon be available to everyone. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Narcan to be sold over the counter.
It's a crucial tool in stopping an opioid overdose, and it's already available to first responders.
The over-the-counter product will officially be available for purchase at stores or online by late summer.
Travis Hall says he's had his own struggle with addiction— he is in recovery from alcohol and cocaine addiction
"Drug addiction stole everything from me what started out with what I thought was fun and games resulted in an 18-year drug addiction," Hall said.
Today, Hall's been in recovery for 17 years and is the executive director of the Faith Recovery Center.
Hall works with individuals who are recovering from opioid addictions. He said the use of Narcan makes all the difference and can possibly give someone a second chance.
"When you have well over 100,000 people dying a year from opioid overdose it's a big problem," Hall said.
It's why the FDA has approved a way for Narcan to be more accessible. An over-the-counter antidote opioid known as OTC Naloxone nasal spray comes in a pack of 2.4-milligram doses used to help reverse an overdose.
Major Jenny Stafford, with the Chesapeake Sheriff's Office, said, since early March, deputies and citizens have been getting CPS and Narcan training to better serve their community.
The sheriff's office says drug addiction can happen to anyone.
"Drug use overdose affects all socio-economic backgrounds of individuals. It could be someone who just suffered an extremely painful surgery, so someone in their adolescent years that's just experimented with drugs," Stafford said. "We are seeing an increase in regards to that specifically, individuals who were not in touch with the community for two years."
In the last six months, Stafford said Narcan has been administered twice in their booking section. At times, when a call of an overdose came in, the department said that they would have to send for medical help.
But Stafford said they wanted to help get aid to people in trouble as fast as they can.
"What we've noticed in our particular location, these overdoses are taking place all the time and it's not just within our facility," Stafford said. "We're receiving subjects within our booking section and we are first on site to respond to someone who may be suffering from an overdose we are able to quickly react and be there prior to our medical staff getting there."
Stafford says the training will be complete by the end of April, and says the news of the recent FDA approval of the over-the-counter spray provides a way for an everyday person to possibly be an everyday hero.
"Having the ability to get your hands on something that can potentially save someone's life that's huge," Stafford said.
