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Audio: Anyone Can Prevent an Opioid Overdose. What Happens After Someone Administers Nalaxone?

In the middle of the opioid epidemic, naloxone, an antidote for opioid overdoses, is more important than ever. Because someone doesn’t need to be a medical professional to use it, anyone can prevent an overdose. Recently, social worker Kevin Nye tweeted about using the drug to save someone’s life. The tweet went viral, and Narcan, a brand of the drug, started trending.

Nye, a social worker based in Minneapolis, discusses the aftermath from the tweet. He wrote about a recent exchange with an emergency medical technician after saving someone’s life from an overdose through the use of Narcan. The EMT was shocked that someone carried and administered the drug. The tweet sparked a debate about the civilian use of this life-saving drug.

In discussion with health experts and the New York City Department of Health, we learn how to get trained and why it is so important that more citizens are deputized during the growing overdose epidemic in the United States.