That morning was not like all the others. The Reid’s absence in class it didn’t take long for it to turn into a generalized chill. The rumor that the 18-year-old boy had been sold drugs mixed with fentanyl spread like wildfire through the school classrooms. A few hours later, the director of the institute in Duarte, northwest of Los Angeles, confirmed that the teenager could not overcome the effects of the opiate. She died of an accidental overdose, one more so far this year in the United States. Everything indicates that There will be more than 100,000 deaths again in 2023 due to the drug epidemic that is hitting the world’s leading power.
Part of the hopes to alter the upward curve of the crisis are deposited in the naloxone which for a few days has been available in pharmacies throughout the country without the need for a prescription. The FDA green light in March for the drug Narcan, a nasal spray to reverse the effects of overdosescould save thousands of lives, according to experts.
Only in The Angels 8,277 deaths were avoided in 2022according to data from the Los Angeles Community Health Project, and 4,274 over the course of 2023, including two during an awareness event about the problem of opioid overdose at MacArthur Parka park synonymous with drugs and homeless In the city center.
The medication is now available in large pharmacy chains such as Walgreens, CVS and Rite Aid, both in physical stores and online, an emergency remedy that authorities want to see democratized. In Santa Clara County, northern California, a measure was approved on Tuesday to distribute Narcan through concert halls, bars, restaurants and by mail. “We want to saturate the county with life-saving services and valuable information that highlights the dangers of fentanyl. There must be easy access to Narcan,” Supervisor Cindy Chavez said in a statement.
Chávez is one of the pioneers in the fight against this epidemic. The Democrat launched the Fentanyl Task Force in early 2022 after the death of a girl from an adulterated Percocet (an oxycodone painkiller) pill. After sending the nasal spray to all schools in the county a few months ago, they want the distribution to be massive.