The life-saving medication Narcan, also known as naloxone, will be available for purchase over the counter starting this week.
From 2019 to 2021, California’s opioid-related deaths spiked 121%, with the crisis disproportionately affecting males, Black and Native Americans and those aged between 30 and 34.
Spider Davila, the harm reduction program coordinator at Los Angeles Community Health Project, called the opioid crisis “intense” and said that it was “getting worse.”
In the last year alone, the Los Angeles Community Health Project says the medication was able to reverse 8,277 overdoses in the greater L.A. area including Norwalk, Antelope Valley, Long Beach and Pacoima.
And this year to date, the organization has reversed 4,274 overdoses, including two at the Overdose Awareness Day event at MacArthur Park on Aug. 31. However, numbers, they said, are under-reported.
The FDA approved non-prescription, over-the-counter Narcan in the form of nasal spray in March of this year. The drug manufacturer Emergent BioSolutions announced last week that it has begun shipping out the medication to retail stores.
Having the medication widely available, Davila said, will normalize it, “which helps reduce stigma.”
The high price point of $44.99 concerns Davila, who says the cost will limit who has access.
“The overdose crisis disproportionately affects people that are unhoused, it affects people in communities of color. It affects people with lower incomes,” they said. “And at $44, if you don't have insurance that can pay for that, it's still not getting it out to everybody that it needs to get to.”
Walgreens confirmed to LAist that Narcan should be available for purchase as soon as Sept. 5. The pharmaceutical chain along with CVS will sell the medication for $44.99.
The medication can be purchased via the CVS app as well as through their website and will be in stores soon, CVS told LAist.
A list of pharmacies and Ralph's locations that carry Narcan can also be found on the County of Los Angeles Public Health website.
