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U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams has urged more Americans to carry the opioid overdose reversal treatment naloxone, known under brand names such as Narcan and Evzio. However, the drug and its delivery systems have become more expensive in recent years:
As opioid-related deaths have continued to climb, naloxone, a drug that can reverse overdoses, has become an important part of the public health response. When people overdosing struggle to breathe, naloxone can restore normal breathing and save their lives. But the drug has to be given quickly.
On Thursday, U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams issued an advisory that encouraged more people to routinely carry naloxone. "The call to action is to recognize if you're at risk," he tells Morning Edition's Rachel Martin. "And if you or a loved one are at risk, keep within reach, know how to use naloxone."
[...] The medicine is now available at retail pharmacies in most states without a prescription. Between 2013 and 2015, researchers found a tenfold increase in naloxone sold by retail pharmacies in the U.S. But prices have increased along with demand. Naloxone-filled syringes that used to cost $6 apiece now cost $30 and up. A two-pack of naloxone nasal spray can cost $135 or more. And a two-pack of automatic naloxone injectors runs more than $3,700. And while it's true that naloxone can prevent many opioid-related deaths, it doesn't solve the root cause of the problem.
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(Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 07 2018, @02:57AM (6 children)
I was going to say something smart, but since you know what others do and think, you're clearly more smarter. You're lucky your teachers still taught you how to read and write, because if they had looked at you and said "without help, this idiot will always be illiterate", you'd still be illiterate.
(Score: 1, Troll) by frojack on Saturday April 07 2018, @03:09AM (5 children)
Not at all the same thing. You seriously believe drug users don't know exactly what they are doing?
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 07 2018, @03:34AM (3 children)
As a recovered alcoholic, I have to say this is complete bullshit.
This is a medical problem and a social problem. Without a real treatment program and help with the issues that caused the addict to turn to drugs in the first place, recovery is unlikely. They also have to have some viable way forward to a life without drugs.
Quitting drugs often means losing everything. Your job, your friends and possibly even your relatives. The cost of quitting is so much higher than people realize.
POS like you are a part of the problem. These aren't bad people and with heroine, it's increasingly people that were fucked over by incompetent doctors with insufficient pain killer management strategies.
Even for those of us who manage to kick the habit for years there can be unexpected days where we would do almost anything for a hit and where it takes unimaginable restraint not to climb back in the bottle.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 07 2018, @09:01AM (1 child)
I had 3-4 relatives who are recovering alcoholics, and my dad has lost at least 2-4 friends to alcoholism, some directly, some as a consequence of drinking and driving.
The same applies with every other drug, and based on discussions with people who are functioning (insert drug of choice)'s most are using due to social anxiety, keeping the demons at bay, or keeping the voices in their heads at bay. Almost no one is doing it for genuinely recreational purposes, and even among the recreation drinking crowd it is usually as an anti-anxiety/excuse thing so they can claim that whatever they said while loosened up was the fault of the booze/drugs rather than what they'd truly say without propriety holding them back.
Society and modern culture are the real poisons, the other stuff is just short term medication being used as a long term solution until something breaks.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Entropy on Saturday April 07 2018, @02:30PM
I know tons of people who use drugs for recreational purposes, and use them responsibly. I'm not saying you're completely off base thinking it's partially therapy: The drugs they do use have quite useful therapeutic benefits as well but the large purpose behind their usage is entertainment, and the other benefits are just a nice lasting bonus.
For the record, they are not using heroin. And none have ever overdosed.
(Score: 2, Troll) by Azuma Hazuki on Saturday April 07 2018, @01:11PM
Frojack is a piece of shit and so is everyone else who "thinks" like him. We have at least half a dozen on this site. Just ignore him, and hope that for extra poetic justice he ends up getting screwed over by his doctor someday and becomes one of the people he keeps shitting on.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by sjames on Saturday April 07 2018, @06:33PM
There are probably some that do. I say that mostly because "never" is an awfully strong statement that corner cases love to disprove.
But there are many other cases. They may not want help at the time, but that's mostly because they aren't seeing things clearly. For example, they started taking opoids because they were in actual physical pain (often with a prescription and a doctor's recommendation). They continue to take them because when they stop, they feel pain. In some cases that pain is still actual physical pain, in others it's the withdrawal itself. In the former case, the doctor either failed to recognize the ongoing problem, or let the DEA bully him into abandoning the patient. In the latter, the problem is a doctor who thought the solution to addiction was just stop prescribing.
Others get started due to various forms of psychological pain. They don't want to stop because the conditions that got them started still exist or are perhaps now even worse. They just don't see a lot of sunshine ahead. Others are like the first group who are now avoiding the pain of withdrawal.
It is interesting that there have been actual studies that showed (in rats) that given an interesting environment where physical needs are easily met, opiates lhave little addictive effect and the rats show little interest in them.
Given a society that gives everyone things to strive for and the resources needed to actually do the striving, science suggests that opiate addiction wouldn't be much of an issue.