Police: Over the Counter Narcan Will Help Save Lives

(KNSI) – St. Cloud police say a drug soon to be sold over the counter to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose could help save lives. The federal Food and Drug Administration recently gave the green light to sell Narcan at pharmacies.

The SCPD responded to 80 reports of overdoses in 2022, resulting in 19 deaths. Central Minnesota Violent Offender Task Force Commander Lucas Dingmann told KNSI that some people would have survived if Narcan had been available sooner. “It surely could help save more lives if people have it in general because, if they’re not in a more metropolitan area, where law enforcement or emergency services are there quicker, this could help.”

Narcan is used to reverse the effects of fentanyl and heroin if someone’s life is in danger. When someone is overdosing on fentanyl, the drug puts a cap on their brain receptors and stops them from breathing. Narcan reverses those effects.

Dingmann explained the department has used the drug to save dozens of people, and everyone reacts differently. “Sometimes they come out of an overdose combative because they don’t know what’s going on with their body. It is just their body’s response to it. They could also come back out of it, and they might get sick, or they might just come out with a headache, or they might just come out and appear to be fine. You never know.”

He says the policy change gives them another tool to combat the current fentanyl epidemic. “It is causing quite a few deaths, more than we’ve ever seen throughout the state, as well as the nation, in regards to it. And we want to make sure that we can get this information out to everybody for educational purposes so we don’t have overdose deaths anymore.”

Officials haven’t said when Narcan will be available over the counter, but it is expected to be by the start of summer.

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