Poll: Most Americans Know About Opioid Antidote And Are Willing To Use It (NPR)
Tuesday Aug 21st, 2018
U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams made a plea in April for more Americans to be prepared to administer naloxone, an opioid antidote, in case they or people close to them suffer an overdose.
We wondered how many people know about naloxone and the fact that someone doesn't have to be a medical professional to administer it. Fifty-nine percent of respondents said they were aware of the antidote and that it could be given by laypeople; 41 percent said they weren't.
In Baltimore, the health department maps where overdoses are happening and sends outreach workers to the areas. But money is an issue, even at a negotiated cost of $75 per naloxone kit, Wen says. There isn't enough naloxone to go around. "Every week we take stock of how many naloxone kits we have for the rest of fiscal year," she says. "Who's at most risk? Those are who we give the naloxone to."