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In order to help fight the heroin epidemic in the northeast United States, Kroger supermarkets and CVS pharmacies will carry the anti-overdose (opioid antagonist) drug naloxone (trade name: Narcan) over the counter:
Ohio-based grocery chain Kroger Co. said Friday it will make the overdose-reversal drug naloxone available without a prescription in its pharmacies across Ohio and northern Kentucky, a region hard-hit by deadly heroin. Kroger said more than 200 of its pharmacies will offer naloxone over the counter within days. "We want families dealing with addiction to know that they can count on having the drug available in the event that they need it," Jeff Talbot, Kroger vice president of merchandising, said in a statement.
Ohio fire crews and other first responders use naloxone thousands of times a year to revive opioid overdose victims. Ohio overdose deaths jumped 18 percent in 2014, one of the nation's sharpest increases. Those on the front lines of the battle against heroin's spread have increasingly supported allowing and educating families and friends of addicts to administer naloxone in emergencies.
State regulators in Ohio and Kentucky have allowed the drug to be sold over the counter. Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine and U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, joined Kroger officials at a Cincinnati grocery store for the retailer's announcement. Portman has been pushing a multi-pronged heroin bill in the Senate that includes expanded availability of naloxone. "This marks an important step in our fight to combat addiction and we all need to continue to work for a bottom-up, comprehensive approach to the heroin epidemic," Portman, from the Cincinnati area, said in a statement.
CVS said recently it will soon offer naloxone without a prescription at its Ohio pharmacies.
Naloxone became available over the counter in Australia on February 1.
In the U.S., there are currently a patchwork of state laws which govern access to Naloxone.
In the U.K. as of 1 October, 2015, "...[A]ny worker in a commissioned drug service can now distribute naloxone without prescription."
Related: Alarming Rise in Death Rates for Middle-Aged White Americans
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Dunbal on Sunday February 14 2016, @02:20AM
Usually for general anesthetic you get midazolam just before being knocked under with fentanyl. Midazolam can make you trippy, relaxed, but since it also produces anterograde amnesia, usually you don't remember the effect. The fentanyl is what puts you into a deep enough sleep to be operated on. I've been in your shoes myself - have had bypass surgery, have had about 6 heart attacks, ventricular fibrillation once, etc. I had my 1st heart attack in my 20's (thanks for those genes, dad!). Anyway I can't take morphine, it makes me really itchy all over and makes me throw up. Fentanyl on the other hand.... almost worth the heart attack lol. It's a warm and fuzzy I just don't give a shit feeling. Dying while in that state can't be bad. I've never witnessed a patient die of opioids (although I've seen plenty die for many other reasons). But the theory is you die of shock and respiratory failure, which isn't fun - but if your mind is no longer in the same room while it happens - well there are many worse ways to die. I guess the trick is not to vomit and broncho aspire while you do it...
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Reziac on Sunday February 14 2016, @02:43AM
Have you ever done a full thyroid panel? (NOT just the TSH test, worth very little by itself.) VFib is typical for longstanding hypothyroid. And per a recent study, 50% of people who'd had major cardiac events were found to have low levels of T3, plus the endgame of this is fatal "flabby heart syndrome".
(I have Hashimoto's, and have had to take up reading the Journal of Endocrinology in sheer self-defense.)
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 2) by Dunbal on Sunday February 14 2016, @02:07PM
My illness is well documented and understood and has nothing to do with my thyroid. Ventricular fibrillation is also common as a reperfusion arrhythmia [ahajournals.org]. I was fortunate enough to be in the emergency room when it happened.
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Sunday February 14 2016, @02:51PM
Very interesting article, thanks. I'd still do the thyroid panel, given how it can affect the underlying chemistry (hypo causes calcium robbing which in turn messes up potassium levels) which I note is a critical point per the article.
And here's wishing you a 100% survival rate in the future!
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 2) by Dunbal on Sunday February 14 2016, @04:01PM
When I say it has nothing to do with my thyroid, I've been fully checked for that and more, several times. They even checked me for homocysteinemia. Everything.
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Sunday February 14 2016, @04:13PM
Good to know. 99% of the time they don't go beyond checking TSH, a fairly lousy metric for thyroid health.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.