Opioid use and opioid overdose deaths are nothing short of a public health emergency across the country, including in the Bay Area.
But there is some help in the form of an antidote of sorts that is saving lives.
As they shopped for fresh fruits and vegetables at a farmers market outside Valley Medical Center on Wednesday, many people went home with a couple of doses of Narcan, a kind of short-term antidote for an opioid overdose.
It’s thought that getting more Narcan into the hands of the general public will save lives.
“We want people to understand that the epidemic is starting to touch our county,” Santa Clara County Behavior Health Services Department Director Bruce Copley said. “Fentanyl is found in opioids and other recreational drugs, and it’s leading to many overdose deaths across the country.”
There have been 27 confirmed opioid deaths in Santa Clara County so far this year and 70 in 2017. A team from the county’s Opioid Overdose Prevention Project showed and explained to KRON4 how one squirt of the nasal spray can stop an overdose and buy precious time to get help.
“Individuals who are in an addicted state typically don’t want to seek treatment, so this will help to get them stabilized so they can consider their options and it gives family members some strength in that Narcan can bring that person out of an addicted state so they can seek other treatment,” Copley said.
Fifteen local law enforcement agencies now carry Narcan, which is credited with saving at least two lives.