Advocates say overdose reversal drug should be in people’s first aid kits

CHARLOTTE — Naloxone, commonly known as Narcan, has been proven to save lives and Channel 9′s Jonathan Lowe looked into who has access to it and how it makes a difference.

Overdoses are 27% to 46% lower when the OD-reversal drug is publicly available, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

It’s been 10 years since Lauren Kestner overcame her struggle with illicit drug use.

She’s proud that she has stayed sober.

“I should have been dead a really long time ago,” she told Lowe. “There’s so many things that happened in my life that intersected, and I think my daughter was also a really big catalyst.”

Kestner said she had to be intentional about living a healthier life.

“I had the opportunity to go to treatment,” she said. “I also had people in my life who, without me realizing it, were introducing me to harm reduction.”

Harm reduction programs have been around since the 1980s.

They use safe syringe services, which provide clean items to users, along with counseling and resources.

Kestner is with Queen City Harm Reduction.

“There’s so much stigma with drug use, which means there is going to be a lot of stigma with accessing naloxone,” Kestner said.

Laws in North Carolina that provide access to Narcan are relatively new.

“People should be able to access whatever they need that is available on the shelf, without being questioned about it,” she said.

In 2016, North Carolina became the third state in the nation to allow pharmacies to distribute naloxone without a prescription.

South Carolina enacted similar legislation in 2018.

It’s free in many cases if the person has insurance.

That’s in addition to doses available at local health departments.

“We provide naloxone for free,” Kestner said. “You can walk in. It’s a judgment-free zone.”

State law spells out how naloxone should be distributed and to whom.

Pharmacists may require written communication from a doctor that a person is at risk of an overdose before the opioid antagonist, or naloxone, could be prescribed.

“It should be as common as having a Band-Aid and Neosporin in your first aid kit,” said Mary Ferreri, the CEO at east Charlotte’s Emerald School of Excellence, a high school for teens in recovery.

Educators also guide students to their diplomas in accordance with state standards.

“Kids that come here have to be 30 days or more sober, whether they’re dealing with mental health or substance use, everybody’s committed to being substance-free,” Ferreri said.

Naloxone doses are still a vital part of their first aid kits.

“It is so important to have it onsite because you just never know,” Ferreri said.

Mecklenburg County reported 375 opioid overdose emergency visits between January and June of this year, according to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.

That’s down from 538 in the same period in 2023.

Patients younger than 25 have accounted for more than 10% of this year’s visits.

“You’re seeing people having earlier starts to their use, which just means that number is going to get younger and younger,” Ferreri said.

Emerald School of Excellence tries to catch drug use before it’s too late.

“And I think that says a lot about the strength of the Charlotte recovery community is we’re wrapping kids early on and that’s part of what our school is, helping to serve with early intervention and prevention, before things get to the point of frequent overdose,” Ferreri said.

Emerald School of Excellence has grown from two students to 36.

This summer, 12 students completed their high school education and earned their diplomas.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools approved adding naloxone in every school.

School nurses underwent training to use the spray and the district said it would be stored in the front office of each school.

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