Ohio State study shows Narcan use up, but could be better

COLUMBUS, Ohio ( WCMH ) — In March 2023, the FDA cleared the use of naloxone, also known as Narcan, for over-the-counter use.

Narcan is used to reverse the effects of a drug overdose and it's extremely effective.

"If you give naloxone early, it's like performing CPR," Dr. Ashish Panchal, an emergency physician at Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, said. "You are being the person who is intervening to save a life, and it really is a question of life and death."

Panchal and researchers at Ohio State decided to take a look at Narcan use to see how often it is being used by lay people to treat an overdose.

Panchal said the findings of the study showed the use of naloxone by good Samaritans is up by 43 percent since 2020.

That is good news, but Panchal said he wants the number even higher.

"Of all the EMS activations in the United States which involve opioid overdoses, only about three to four percent actually got lay person naloxone," he said. "I'd rather want that to be something like 100 percent so that we know we can save more lives every day."

There is still an opioid crisis in central Ohio and Maryhaven is an addiction treatment center in Columbus trying to fight the problem. Matt Grafton, vice president of Stabilization Services at Maryhaven, said that in his line of work, he has had to reverse an overdose.

"Yeah, it can be scary, the person had overdosed," he said. "They were turning blue as well as gray, so we had to administer Narcan to them. We had contacted EMS, so while we were waiting for EMS, we had to administer a couple doses of Narcan."

Grafton said the more people who carry naloxone on them, the better.

Former drug addict Timothy Pratt is getting treatment at Maryhaven and agreed with Grafton. He said he overdosed between 20 and 40 times and that Narcan saved him many times.

After being given Narcan, Pratt said, "Kind of you're in a state of shock. Like I said you don't know anything until you come to and it's all blurry at first and then you don't even know that it happened until it already happened."

Grafton, being someone who has administered Narcan before, warned that some people can be aggravated as they come out of an overdose, so he recommended staying alert.

But even if this is a possibility, both Grafton and Panchal said it is worth it to save a life.

"As a lay person, if I can use it and help bring them back, I'm going to do that first," Grafton said.

Following OSU's study, Panchal said the next step is building even more awareness around Narcan, showing people that the drug is easily accessible and easy to use.