LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — On Wednesday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the sale of Narcan without a prescription. The overdose-reversing drug is the first opioid treatment to be sold over-the-counter.
Narcan can reverse overdoses of opioids, including street drugs such as heroin and fentanyl.
According to the Southern Nevada Health District, from January 2018 to July 2022, a provisional estimate of 1,412 opioid-related deaths happened in Clark County.
"The opioid crisis is just something that has completely exploded and grown and there's no end in sight unfortunately. So, with that, let's have an explosion of solutions,” said DJ Uch.
Uch is in recovery from a 25 year battle with alcohol and substance abuse. He said he started drinking at age 13 and eventually started using marijuana, ecstasy, mushrooms, ketamine, and cocaine. Now, nearly 30 months sober, he shares his story, hoping to inspire others and end the stigma surrounding addiction.
"People think that drug addiction, alcohol addiction looks a certain way and I came from a great home and a great education. I hid my addiction from a lot of people,” Uch said. "There's people that I know that have died of overdoses and it's because they were doing the same thing they did the night before and the night before that. We didn't have a solution to save them."
The manufacturers of Narcan estimate it will become available over-the-counter by late summer.
