Overdose reversing drug still hard to come by at California pharmacies

According to the CDC, since 1999, the number of overdose deaths involving opioids have quadrupled. Which is why NARCAN, the life saving drug can be bought over the Counter in 48 States. But in California new findings show that pharmacists have been slow to dispense it.

Kaiser Health News, found that in the past three years since the California law took effect, pharmacists cite several reasons for not dispensing NARCAN. Those include low public awareness, heavy workloads, fear that they won’t be adequately paid and reluctance to treat drug-addicted people.

In California Pharmacists can supply NARCAN without a prescription to patients. So basically life insurance for an addict and their family that can sit in a cupboard until needed, however in California it can be difficult to get your hands on it. Just a fraction of pharmacists have received training. NARCAN can reverse the effects of an overdose, but time is of the essence.

According to Kaiser Health News, there are about 28,000 pharmacists in the state and only 450 to 500 pharmacists have been trained to distribute it.