“Call 911! Help! Can someone help me please?” Estimates report there are over 240 million 911 emergency calls made each year in the United States. Some of these calls are made due to opiate overdoses such as heroin, oxycodone or fentanyl. The victim is in immediate need of the antidote, Naloxone, to reverse the harmful, deadly effects. Opiates are pain killers and can be abused, leading to many untimely deaths. Naloxone not only saves junkies’ lives and gives them the false perception that using again will be safe, but it also takes away their high, angering them and causing them to be combative toward the heroes saving their lives. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Naloxone in 1971, and now is available, without prescription, to anyone who wants it. Alexander R. Bazazi et. al. assert in their article Preventing Opiate Overdose Deaths: Examining Objections to Take-Home Naloxone that “An additional objection to Naloxone distribution is that an opiate overdose is a serious medical problem that must be handled by trained professionals, not by lay people” (qtd. in S. Smith, Boston Globe: 2007). Because addicts will do anything for their next fix, the idea of saving someone’s life who, statistically, will repeat the deadly habit again and again and may get someone’s child hooked, or will possibly steal, and probably prostitute themselves and take away our heroes’ time from other serious crises is incomprehensible and inexcusable use for our tax dollars. Naloxone is not a cure; it is a temporary solution delaying the inevitable.
For one thing, Naloxone can be administered by a spray up the nose or injected intravenously. Most paramedics prefer administrating the antidote nasally due to the high risks of addicts transmitting communicable diseases. If given within the right time frame, which differs per usage, person, and dosage, positive results are immediate. Symptoms of an overdose can mimic a diabetic coma or respiratory failure. The paramedics are trained to look for drug paraphernalia which queues them to know if they are dealing with a drug overdose as opposed to a heart attack or a stroke. Unfortunately, if paramedics are treating for a drug overdose, they cannot leave for other emergencies, such as a car accident or a stroke victim. If all the paramedic trucks from one station are dispatched and more calls come in, a neighboring station may have to cover. This delay may lead to longer driving distances for the neighboring paramedics and lower risk of survival for the casualty. In a press release on April 30, 2016, Walgreens announced that
… It has made Naloxone, a potentially lifesaving opioid antidote, available
without requiring a prescription from an individual’s physician in all of its
Pennsylvania’s pharmacies in accordance with state pharmacy regulations (3349).
One of the possible reasons for Walgreens’ support of this drug is profit. The bottom line for corporations is to make money for its stockholders. Walgreens, like any other corporation, would not invest in or sell anything that is not profitable for its investors. Heroin use is on the rise and profit is to be made from this antidote. Another possible reason may be that Walgreens wants to appear that it cares and supports families who live with members who are addicted to opiates. Walgreens may want to increase customer volume and gain more shopping profits by offering support; again the bottom line is stockholders’ value. The addiction cycle continues. Addicts become careless, daring, and more adventurous. Naloxone may offer the hope to addicts to use stronger doses for a more powerful fix. It gives false hope to families who get call after call when a family member overdoses. Walgreens is encouraging repeated usage by selling Naloxone. Is Naloxone buying time for the addicts or buying time for the first responders?
By selling Naloxone, Walgreens could conceivably be compared to high schools distributing condoms to students. Both are promoting the dirty acts. By making this antidote available, it encourages more usage. The only solutions are education and rehabilitation.
Furthermore, heroin has caused many deaths in the United States, including famous and talented people. Some well-known people include the singer Prince, National Football League’s Steeler defensive lineman Gene Lipscomb, comic Chris Farley and the iconic singer Whitney Houston. Opiate abuse has no boundaries. It crosses all demographics: age, class, gender, and race. Opiates killed these people, who were admired and inspirations to many. No one should be embarrassed if a family member is hooked because drugs have affected numerous families in the United States, including the famous. Naloxone may have saved these famous people once, but how many more times can junkies dance with the devil? Paramedics complain that they are called multiple times for the same addict overdosing. This illustrates that addict calls monopolize paramedics’ time and resources. After paramedics administer the Naloxone, they transport the addict to the hospital; surprisingly, they are not arrested. The fact sheet published by the Drug Policy Alliance group states the Good Samaritan law reads as follows:
An important solution to encourage overdose witnesses to seek medical help
is to exempt them from arrest and criminal prosecution through the adoption
of 911 Good Samaritan immunity laws. Good Samaritan immunity laws provide
protection from arrest and prosecution for witnesses who call 911. (2016)
There is more to life than a good fix and the solutions are education and rehabilitation. When one is not dependent on a drug to get high, and use Naloxone as a “Band-Aid,” that is when one can start living.
Additionally, for example, since Naloxone is available to the public, it may tempt young, curious marijuana users to try to get a better high from a very dangerous opiate. Knowing the reviving “Band-Aid” Naloxone is available and is inexpensive, both inexperienced and hardcore drug users are open to a better high. Fentanyl is the substance that causes heroin overdoses, but it also is the substance that creates the ultimate, deadly high. Repeated paramedic calls for Naloxone administered to young women who may be pregnant adds another layer of risks: innocent lives born addicted to opiates. This is a serious issue that only through education and rehabilitation that a cure is made possible.
In conclusion, education and rehabilitation are the only proven cures. Education needs to start early to be successful. Rehabilitation is often not a one-time cure; it may involve many long-term admittances. Naloxone enables repeated use and gives flawed optimism to users and their families. Heroin users are prone to commit criminal acts to support their habit: Naloxone does not reduce their needs to finance their next fix by stealing, prostituting, or even committing murder. Drug overdoses are at epidemic levels and are major urgencies killing more people than guns and traffic accidents. Opiate users are just playing Russian roulette and Naloxone is just waiting for the Devil to take the dance in his own hands.
Works Cited
Fitness & Wellness Week 30 Apr. 2016: 3349. Academic OneFile. Web. 28 May. 2016. Bazazi, Alexander R., Zaller, Nickolas D., Rich, Josiah D. “Preventing Opiate Overdose Deaths:
Examining Objections to Take-Home Naloxone.” Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved. 23 Dec. 2010. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
“911 Good Samaritan Laws: Preventing Overdose Deaths, Saving Lives.” Drugpolicy.com.
Drug Policy Alliance. 10 Feb. 2016. Web. 30 May. 2016.
Allie's Blog 