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Hey so I know someone who was a pharmacist for like 30 years, and when I mentioned this to them they said "no way". But we looked it up and it is for sure not a scheduled drug, meaning yes you can get it over the counter. The pharmacist was really surprised. The nasal spray form you can get for sure 👍
They said they (the stores) never dispensed it very much in the retail setting
This varies from state to state, many have standing orders that allow you to pick it up from pharmacies without a prescription.
And you can get scheduled drugs over the counter, it's specifically schedule I (ie heroin, MDMA, LSD, cannabis, psilocybin) that's federally prohibited across the board. It's not common at all but someone could get fentanyl over the counter, or ketamine or meth (desoxyn). Those are schedule II, as are Adderall and Ritalin.
You're right, I always mix that up. It's a little confusing when it comes to Narcan because it's something that does get logged as a prescription. It's just, as I understand it, prescribed by each state's surgeon general for the entire state population.
I don't see why they'd lie unless they're somehow paying for the narcan? In which case, yeah that's bullshit -- but we're not talking about "big pharma" here.
It's amazing how people can just judge people for it considering addiction is for many people just trying to avoid a painful withdrawal.
Pharmacists that don't have people asking about this genuinely might not know. The one time I did this a couple years ago at a Walgreen's in Philly they were pretty clearly confused, despite this being a city with a huge overdose death rate. But coming in with a printout of your state's standing order, if there is one, should take care of this.
Anything to address the fucked up lack of healthcare in the US. Thanks for the tip.
Australia has a free Naloxone programme as well, if you live there.
It's fucking incredible to watch in action. I've seen people go from purple and lifeless to awake and alert (and very confused) in seconds
I just don't like the false confidence it gives you. The opiates are still in their system and they can go right back to overdosing as it wears off.
It is in many places, even in the US varying from place to place.
WTF on why we don't have safe supply , though.
It's also probably the easiest medicine to give to someone, half up one nostril, half up the other, and they're back.
That's weird, I was trained to give it by needle, never seen it done that way
When I was briefly an emt in NY, we were trained to use narcan with a nasal atomizer.
Narcan is a specific product that's the nasal delivery form of naloxone, which is otherwise usually administered through injection. Injection is definitely a better option if you're not averse to needles because you can dial in a much smaller dose of naloxone that will work as well as Narcan, but without slamming someone into immediate withdrawal.
Is there a limit as to how often you can ask?
Because I have a lot of free time and am more than happy to get stuff to help people
I’m pretty sure if it’s a place that doesn’t give it out for free, then likely so.
YMMV, but I can't see this working here in Philly. We do have a good amount of city funding put into free Narcan programs.
So I'm all for Narcan distribution (and I have probably about 60 doses in my house right now to be distributed soon), but want to caution people about this for a couple reasons:
- Narcan generally isn't free from pharmacies without health care; I know here in PA it can be around $125 for the two dose box without a prescription .
- If you do get this with your healthcare it's going to show up on your prescription record, and can potentially fuck up your chances to get a controlled substance prescription if you need one, especially if you pick it up regularly. People have been denied life insurance for this too.
Actually free Narcan is generally pretty viable to come by (for example this program will send it to anyone via post for free. It's some of the other safer use supplies, many still classified as paraphernalia, that can be harder to come across.
I'm all for people getting access to Narcan / naloxone by whatever means makes sense for them. Being fully informed is good too. This can end up a tag on your insurance that will plausibly subject you to at least some level of discrimination usually reserved for opioid users, and injection drug users. If someone is fine with that, by all means go the pharmacy route.
But I suppose if nothing else, getting Narcan over the counter you'll know if your local pharmacy is actually competent at doing this. And maybe it saves someone else the trouble, if they have no idea what they're doing. Living in Philly, me trying this a couple years ago and being turned down at two pharmacies (before being heavily sideyed at a third) was a bit of a wakeup call as to the barriers often involved in this type of access. Even in the most highest overdose death rate large city in the country.
how do I ask for it, can you give me an example I can just repeat verbatim?
