A critical weapon in the fight against Fentanyl is hitting store shelves nationwide this week. Narcan nasal spray is available over the counter, without a prescription.
For families who lost loved ones to Fentanyl, it is an important step in the continuing crisis.
“My son died on January 5 of 2021, from a Percocet,” said Michael Land of his 25-year-old son Preston. “It was 100% fentanyl… It was enough to kill four, five people.”
Gayle Meeks lost her son T.J. Nevant to Fentanyl one year ago this month.
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“He had a favorite park that we are all going to go to on September 24 and spread his ashes and have a ceremony,” she said.
Meek and Land have joined other parents on a mission to spare other families their pain.
“It’s a pain that a parent never needs to feel,” said Meeks.
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The Collin County mother supports the over-the-counter availability of Narcan. “I think it’s important to have Narcan available. For us, it’s just not far enough yet,” she said.
The antidote that can reverse opioid overdoses is now available over the counter, without a prescription, as approved by the FDA in March.
Narcan can be purchased online or in person at participating pharmacies, grocery stores and convenience stores.
A spokesperson for Walgreens tells NBC 5, that Narcan is currently available for purchase online and will be available in store locations as early as today and nationally by Thursday.
The manufacturer’s suggested retail price is $44.99.
It’s important to keep in mind since the spray is now OTC, health insurance may not cover the cost.
Meeks hopes parents and teens do rely solely on the emergency spray, believing one dose will save your loved one.
“You can get one dose and think your child is okay or you’re giving it to your friend and think they’re okay and they’re not because the lifespan of Narcan is half an hour and they can go back and get poisoning.”
According to the Texas Medical Association, illicitly produced fentanyl causes most opioid overdoses in the U.S. and Texas.
Fentanyl can be found in powder and liquid form and added to illicit drugs to make them more potent and more addictive.
DEA officials say drug cartels across the border, working alongside Chinese counterparts, consider fentanyl poisoning or overdose deaths ‘as the price of doing business.’
Data from the Department of State Health Services says approximately 200 deaths in 2020 were associated with fentanyl. That number jumped to 1,600 deaths by 2021 when 95% of unintentional synthetic opioid deaths in Texas were tied to fentanyl.
The synthetic drug can be 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine.
Shannon White is the executive director of Grace to Change, an outpatient substance abuse center in McKinney.
“I think [Narcan] should be as prevalent in people’s medicine cabinets as Advil or Aspirin. Every family needs to have it.”
White also hopes cheaper, more potent naloxone emergency sprays like Kloxxado will soon be available without a doctor’s note.
“Each package is twice the strength as a double pack of Narcan and what we’re seeing with people who are truly addicted to fentanyl and are overdosing, one dose of Narcan is not enough. In some cases, [first responders are] having to use four doses,” she said.
Meeks also applauds the state’s new law [HB6] which increases the penalties for those who manufacture or sell fentanyl to a person resulting in their death. The bill allows fentanyl overdoses as ‘poisonings’ allowing murder charges for the person who provided the fatal dose.
“A lot of times, it’s a kid giving a kid a pill at school,” she said. “That child now can also be charged for murder and their life completely be ruined.”
To honor his son, Land visited 25 national parks (his son was 25 years old) to raise awareness of the dangers of fentanyl as part of 25preston7.
Looking back at Preston’s struggles with mental health, Land acknowledges there were possible signs of trouble he missed like his son’s shifting moods.
“Why are you a depressed person and isolated and all of a sudden you come down and say: Hey, I’m in a good mood? That’s a sign,” said Land. “My question is why are they happy? And I look back and I think why didn’t I question that as a parent?... He probably took something.”
