Surgeon general enlists all to stop opioid deaths
U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams said he wants more Americans to carry Narcan, an overdose antidote, to combat the nation's opioid crisis. Credit: AP / John Minchillo
The U.S. surgeon general issued a rare advisory Thursday regarding the nation’s opioid epidemic, and his simple message is worth heeding: More Americans should carry naloxone.
Naloxone, the drug commonly known as Narcan, quickly reverses the effects of an opioid overdose. And there were more than 42,000 such overdose deaths nationally in 2016. Dr. Jerome Adams’ list of those who should have naloxone and know how to use it included opioid users, their families and friends, health care practitioners and anyone who comes into contact with people at risk for an opioid overdose. In other words, almost all of us.
Find out how to obtain it. Get training in using it in sessions offered frequently by libraries, hospitals, local governments and agencies like the Long Island Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence.
As Adams noted: Be prepared. Get naloxone. Save a life.
