San Francisco board member wants to mandate pharmacies carry naloxone as overdose cases grow
1 year, 6 months ago

San Francisco board member wants to mandate pharmacies carry naloxone as overdose cases grow

LA Times  

A close up of one of the Narcan naloxone nasal spray. A San Francisco supervisor wants to mandate that all retail pharmacies in the city carry naloxone to help reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. Amid an ongoing overdose crisis, San Francisco Supervisor Matt Dorsey said he wants to mandate that all retail pharmacies in the city carry naloxone which, if administered on time, can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. “Although a majority of pharmacies in San Francisco stock naloxone, mandating that it be carried by all retail pharmacies all the time is an important step we can take to maximize its availability and help save lives,” Dorsey said in a release. ”., a ‘secret shopper’ survey conducted by the San Francisco Department of Public Health found that approximately 20% of local retail pharmacies surveyed did not have naloxone in stock, despite having legal authorization to provide it on request,” Dorsey’s office said in a release.

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History of this topic

California’s drug task force halts entry of an estimated $11.9 million in fentanyl, governor says
1 month, 3 weeks ago

California’s drug task force halts entry of an estimated $11.9 million in fentanyl, governor says

LA Times  

A close-up of fentanyl-laced pills can be seen in a 2019 photo. Amid an ongoing opioid crisis, a special task force of the California National Guard helped seize 1,542 pounds of fentanyl last month, with a street value of about $11.9 million, Gov. In October, the California National Guard’s Counterdrug Task Force helped seize more than 1.7 million fentanyl pills. …

California is joining with a New Jersey company to make a generic opioid overdose reversal drug
8 months, 1 week ago

California is joining with a New Jersey company to make a generic opioid overdose reversal drug

Associated Press  

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California will soon begin selling its own generic version of Narcan — the drug that can save someone’s life during an opioid overdose — under a deal announced Monday by Democratic Gov. The naloxone nasal spray will be the first drug to carry the CalRx label, Newsom’s effort to force drug companies to lower their prices by …

California will supply first responders, universities with opioid overdose reversal drug for free
8 months, 1 week ago

California will supply first responders, universities with opioid overdose reversal drug for free

LA Times  

Gavin Newsom announced that California will soon purchase opioid overdose reversal drug naloxone below the current market rate through the state’s prescription drug label, CalRx. California will provide first responders, universities and other qualifying organizations with a generic version of Narcan, the opioid overdose reversal drug, for free, Gov. CalRx’s Naloxone Access Initiative will buy over-the-counter naloxone for $24 a …

Some D.A.s are fighting fentanyl with murder charges. Why San Francisco will join them
10 months, 2 weeks ago

Some D.A.s are fighting fentanyl with murder charges. Why San Francisco will join them

LA Times  

San Francisco Mayor London Breed, right, with Dist. In an October statement announcing the initiative, Breed said people selling the synthetic opioid are “on notice that pushing this drug could lead to homicide charges.” Jenkins said the effort would make it easier to hold dealers “accountable for the true dangerousness of their conduct.” It’s a remarkable shift in rhetoric and …

Fentanyl epidemic reaches CONGRESS: Capitol Hill staffers given 600 free doses of live-saving medication naloxone to prevent overdoses as drug wave sweeps Washington
11 months, 1 week ago

Fentanyl epidemic reaches CONGRESS: Capitol Hill staffers given 600 free doses of live-saving medication naloxone to prevent overdoses as drug wave sweeps Washington

Daily Mail  

Naloxone, an overdose reversal medication, was distributed at the Capitol Capitol Hill staffers were given free samples of the life-saving drug naloxone as the deadly fentanyl epidemic continues to hit Washington, D.C., particularly hard. One staffer, Caty Payette, posted on X that free naloxone kits were being distributed Thursday Voices for Awareness set up a table in a Senate office …

‘It’s absolutely heartbreaking’: Fentanyl is officially Los Angeles County’s deadliest drug
1 year ago

‘It’s absolutely heartbreaking’: Fentanyl is officially Los Angeles County’s deadliest drug

LA Times  

In 2022, fentanyl was linked to more overdose deaths in L.A. County than meth for the first time in recent years. “It’s absolutely heartbreaking,” said Amanda Cowan, executive director of Community Health Project Los Angeles, which provides services to people who use drugs. “In the case of race/ethnicity, Black people account for 8% of the population, and disproportionately accounted for …

As Pacific Northwest fentanyl crisis surges, officials grapple with how to curb it
1 year ago

As Pacific Northwest fentanyl crisis surges, officials grapple with how to curb it

Associated Press  

SEATTLE — The fight against fentanyl is increasingly being waged in schools, jails and on city streets in the Pacific Northwest, where state officials in Oregon and Washington have named it a top issue as overdose deaths rise. Inslee’s office said part of his proposed supplemental budget would go toward equipping first responders with naloxone, and setting up 20 “smart” …

31 pharmacies in Mexico are shut as authorities crack down on fentanyl-tainted pills
1 year ago

31 pharmacies in Mexico are shut as authorities crack down on fentanyl-tainted pills

LA Times  

A drug store in Playa del Carmen advertises a range of medications. Mexican authorities raided dozens of pharmacies in Ensenada and seized thousands of boxes of pills as part of a broader effort to crack down on drugstores suspected of selling counterfeit and fentanyl-tainted medications. Dubbed Operation Albatros II, the recent raids targeted 53 pharmacies in the Baja California port …

Mexico raids and closes 31 pharmacies in Ensenada that were selling fentanyl-laced pills
1 year, 1 month ago

Mexico raids and closes 31 pharmacies in Ensenada that were selling fentanyl-laced pills

Associated Press  

MEXICO CITY — Mexican authorities said Friday they have raided and closed 31 pharmacies in Baja California’s coastal city of Ensenada, after they were detected selling fake or fentanyl-laced pills. The announcement represents one of the first times Mexican authorities have acknowledged what U.S. researchers pointed out almost a year ago: that Mexican pharmacies were offering controlled medications like Oxycodone, …

San Francisco on track for deadliest year on record for drug overdoses with 692 people dying in the first nine months of the year - more than all of 2022 - with 80% of fatalities caused by fentanyl
1 year, 1 month ago

San Francisco on track for deadliest year on record for drug overdoses with 692 people dying in the first nine months of the year - more than all of 2022 - with 80% of fatalities caused by fentanyl

Daily Mail  

San Francisco is facing its deadliest year ever for drug overdose deaths with 692 people dying so far this year - more than in the whole of 2022. San Francisco is on track for its deadliest year ever for drug overdoses, with 692 people dying before November and the total predicted to hit over 800 Open use drug addicts in …

Kansas City to hire 2 overdose investigators in face of rising fentanyl deaths
1 year, 1 month ago

Kansas City to hire 2 overdose investigators in face of rising fentanyl deaths

Associated Press  

— Kansas City will hire overdose investigators as part the Missouri city’s effort to lower the number of fentanyl deaths. An ordinance passed Thursday by the city council allows the city health department to hire two investigators and requires overdoses to be reported within 24 hours, the Kansas City Star reported. A Kansas City police official told the newspaper that …

Massachusetts: Heart-shaped pills laced with fentanyl seized and 3 arrested in drug bust worth $8 million
1 year, 2 months ago

Massachusetts: Heart-shaped pills laced with fentanyl seized and 3 arrested in drug bust worth $8 million

CNN  

CNN — Three men were arrested and authorities seized over 220 pounds of controlled substances in a major drug bust earlier this month that included pink fentanyl-laced pills shaped like hearts, the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts said in a news release. Of an estimated 10 million doses seized, 8 million were “doses of fentanyl and methamphetamine …

Portland police are investigating nearly a dozen fentanyl overdoses involving children, with 5 fatal
1 year, 3 months ago

Portland police are investigating nearly a dozen fentanyl overdoses involving children, with 5 fatal

Associated Press  

PORTLAND, Ore. — Nearly a dozen children, including a 1-year-old, have overdosed on fentanyl since June in Portland, Oregon, its police bureau said Thursday, intensifying alarm in a city like so many others that has struggled to address the deadliest overdose crisis in U.S. history. A 1-year-old, 2-year-old, 5-year-old and two 15-year-olds are among the dead, the Portland Police Bureau …

Over-the-counter opioid overdose antidote Narcan is arriving in stores
1 year, 4 months ago

Over-the-counter opioid overdose antidote Narcan is arriving in stores

CNN  

CNN — The first over-the-counter naloxone, a drug used to reverse opioid overdose, is starting to come available in retail stores and online. It’ll save people’s lives.” Advocates for increased access to naloxone cheered the news that the drug will be available without a prescription but said it won’t be a panacea for the overdose crisis, both because it’s too …

One Metro worker revived 21 riders overdosing on opioids. He’s not alone
1 year, 7 months ago

One Metro worker revived 21 riders overdosing on opioids. He’s not alone

LA Times  

Metro ambassador Fabian Bolanos, 52, says he has administered the opioid-reversal drug naloxone four times since he started in fall. “Unfortunately, when people with drug abuse issues come into our system from the communities we serve across L.A. County, our frontline employees bear the burden of discovering people who’ve overdosed, cleaning up after drug users or encountering their behavior while …

Total overdose: Drug-related deaths in San Francisco up by 41% in three months
1 year, 8 months ago

Total overdose: Drug-related deaths in San Francisco up by 41% in three months

Firstpost  

200 persons died of overdoses in the city in the last three months, up from 142 in the same period last year Drug-related deaths in San Francisco have increased by 41 per cent in the first quarter of 2023, with one person dying of an accidental overdose every 10 hours, reported The Guardian. According to the reports by San Francisco’s …

FDA approves over-the-counter Narcan. Here’s what it means
1 year, 9 months ago

FDA approves over-the-counter Narcan. Here’s what it means

Associated Press  

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday approved selling the leading version of naloxone without a prescription, setting the overdose-reversing drug on course to become the first opioid treatment drug to be sold over the counter. Even before the FDA’s action, pharmacies could sell naloxone without a prescription because officials in every state have allowed it. FDA Commissioner Robert …

FDA approves over-the-counter Narcan for opioid overdoses. Here’s what that means
1 year, 9 months ago

FDA approves over-the-counter Narcan for opioid overdoses. Here’s what that means

LA Times  

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday approved selling naloxone without a prescription, setting the overdose-reversing drug on course to become the first opioid treatment medication to be sold over the counter. Advocates believe it’s important to get naloxone to the people who are most likely to be around over- doses, including people who use drugs and their relatives. …

US approves sale of overdose reversal drug without prescription
1 year, 9 months ago

US approves sale of overdose reversal drug without prescription

Al Jazeera  

The decision comes as a bid to widen access to the life-saving drug as the US struggles with a wave of overdose deaths. The United States has decided to make Narcan, a life-saving medication that can reverse drug overdoses, accessible without a prescription as the country reels from an ongoing opioid addiction crisis. In a statement on Wednesday, the US …

Narcan Will Now Be Sold Over The Counter. Here's How To Use It.
1 year, 9 months ago

Narcan Will Now Be Sold Over The Counter. Here's How To Use It.

Huff Post  

Hiraman via Getty Images Narcan may soon hit pharmacy shelves, making it more accessible for people to purchase and use. “Making naloxone OTC can help normalize the medication as something everyone person should have available — in the medicine cabinet, in the car, backpack, at work, in parks and other community settings,” Alex Bennett, a research associate professor and director …

L.A. students will be able to carry Narcan in schools under updated policy
1 year, 11 months ago

L.A. students will be able to carry Narcan in schools under updated policy

LA Times  

Students will be able to carry Narcan, a nasal spray that can reverse an opioid overdose, in Los Angeles Unified schools under a soon-to-be-updated policy. Carvalho wrote to board members Tuesday that the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health “supports a clarification” in L.A. Unified policy “that would allow students to be able to carry Narcan in schools,” and …

With opioid overdoses still on the rise, more regular people are carrying Narcan
2 years ago

With opioid overdoses still on the rise, more regular people are carrying Narcan

LA Times  

Monica Clayton was standing in line at a Burger King on Market Street in downtown San Francisco just before 7 a.m. when a frantic man ran into the restaurant. Awed, Clayton — who is 36 and in recovery from meth addiction — approached a first responder and asked, “What is that stuff?” It’s naloxone, also known as Narcan, a lifesaving …

As fentanyl overdose deaths keep rising, efforts to reverse trend meet liability fears
2 years ago

As fentanyl overdose deaths keep rising, efforts to reverse trend meet liability fears

LA Times  

As fentanyl overdose deaths rise unabated, California is at the forefront of the fight to reverse the grim trend. In a perfect world, she’d erect stands or boxes containing naloxone — she likened them to “Little Free Library” boxes, but with opioid reversal medication instead of tattered paperbacks — in homeless encampments and other places where drug users congregate. A …

Fentanyl’s scourge evident on the streets of Los Angeles
2 years ago

Fentanyl’s scourge evident on the streets of Los Angeles

Al Jazeera  

For too many people strung out on the drug, the sleep that follows a fentanyl hit could be permanent. The highly addictive and potentially lethal drug has become a scourge across the United States and is taking a toll on the growing number of people living on the streets of Los Angeles. Two-thirds of the 107,000 overdose deaths in 2021 …

L.A. County libraries could soon supply naloxone for reversing overdoses
2 years, 2 months ago

L.A. County libraries could soon supply naloxone for reversing overdoses

LA Times  

Los Angeles County libraries could supply the overdose reversal drug naloxone and teach librarians how to administer the lifesaving medication under a proposal unanimously approved Tuesday by the Board of Supervisors. Along with supplying and administering doses of naloxone, often sold as a nasal spray under the brand name Narcan, the motion also directs county health officials to explore making …

Los Angeles school district will distribute overdose reversal drug to every K-12 school after student death, officials say
2 years, 3 months ago

Los Angeles school district will distribute overdose reversal drug to every K-12 school after student death, officials say

CNN  

CNN — Schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District will soon be equipped with doses of naloxone, a drug used to temporarily reverse the effects of opioid drug overdoses, Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho announced Thursday. The district’s announcement comes after Los Angeles police reported multiple overdoses among local high school students, including one who died and another who was …

Los Angeles school district will distribute overdose reversal drug to every K-12 school after student death, officials say
2 years, 3 months ago

Los Angeles school district will distribute overdose reversal drug to every K-12 school after student death, officials say

CNN  

CNN — Schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District will soon be equipped with doses of naloxone, a drug used to temporarily reverse the effects of opioid drug overdoses, Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho announced Thursday. The district’s announcement comes after Los Angeles police reported multiple overdoses among local high school students, including one who died and another who was …

Judge: Walgreens contributed to San Francisco opioid crisis
2 years, 4 months ago

Judge: Walgreens contributed to San Francisco opioid crisis

Associated Press  

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge ruled Wednesday that Walgreens can be held responsible for contributing to San Francisco’s opioid crisis for over-dispensing highly addictive drugs for years without proper oversight and failing to identify and report suspicious orders as required by law. San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu said the pharmacy chain “continually violated what they were required to …

Rural Florida county shocked by fentanyl deaths over holiday
2 years, 6 months ago

Rural Florida county shocked by fentanyl deaths over holiday

Associated Press  

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A small, largely rural county west of Florida’s capital experienced an unheard-of spike in deadly drug overdoses believed to be caused by fentanyl over the July 4 weekend, with nine people dying in the latest sign that a national crisis is becoming even more far-reaching. The problem has become so acute that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration …

California advances bid to create legal drug injection sites
2 years, 6 months ago

California advances bid to create legal drug injection sites

Associated Press  

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The California Assembly on Thursday approved a controversial bill allowing Los Angeles, Oakland and San Francisco to set up places where opioid users could legally inject drugs in supervised settings. New York City in December opened the first two publicly recognized overdose prevention sites in the United States, intervening in more than 150 overdoses, although its operation …

Black Americans bear the Brunt of Fentanyl 'Epidemic' in Washington
2 years, 7 months ago

Black Americans bear the Brunt of Fentanyl 'Epidemic' in Washington

News 18  

Lorando Duncan wears long-sleeved shirts because his arms bear scars he doesn’t like to show: those of the drugs he has been injecting into his veins for decades. “Fentanyl killed a lot of my friends,” he tells AFP beneath a picture of America’s first Black vice president, Kamala Harris, that he has hung in his apartment in Anacostia, one of …

California families who lost loved ones to fentanyl-laced drugs press lawmakers to act
2 years, 7 months ago

California families who lost loved ones to fentanyl-laced drugs press lawmakers to act

LA Times  

An investigator leaves the scene where three men were found dead from a fentanyl overdose in an apartment building in downtown Los Angeles on May 5. They erect billboards blaming politicians for the drug crisis and stage “die-in” protests against open-air drug markets in Los Angeles’ Venice Beach and San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood. One critic of California’s progressive policies is …

Three men found dead in downtown L.A. after ingesting fentanyl, police say
2 years, 8 months ago

Three men found dead in downtown L.A. after ingesting fentanyl, police say

LA Times  

A crime scene investigator at the scene of a downtown Los Angeles apartment complex where three men were found dead from a fentanyl overdose Thursday morning. Three men were found dead in a downtown Los Angeles apartment early Thursday after ingesting fentanyl, the latest instance in what officials say is a nationwide epidemic of overdoses and deaths related to the …

California lawmakers target fentanyl as opioid overdoses surge
2 years, 9 months ago

California lawmakers target fentanyl as opioid overdoses surge

LA Times  

California lawmakers are responding to a surge in fentanyl overdoses and deaths in their cities with a list of bills that include imposing stronger penalties for distributing the synthetic opioid and easing access to safer consumption and treatment. “I think it’s important for us as a Legislature to turn the page on that and act urgently now to protect our …

As opioid overdoses rise in L.A. jails, inmates get access to lifesaving drug
3 years, 7 months ago

As opioid overdoses rise in L.A. jails, inmates get access to lifesaving drug

LA Times  

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department adopts a new approach to dealing with overdoses, which are on the rise, and the widespread use of fentanyl inside the jail system. Dr. Sean Henderson, a physician with the county’s Correctional Health Services, said the time that is saved by giving inmates quick access to the drug can be the difference between life …

New drug overdose data capture earliest days of fentanyl’s deadly westward expansion
5 years, 2 months ago

New drug overdose data capture earliest days of fentanyl’s deadly westward expansion

LA Times  

This bag of fentanyl was seized in a drug raid. Fentanyl, a drug at least 10 times more powerful than morphine, is “phenomenally inexpensive per dose,” according to a recent Rand Corp. report on the future of synthetic opioids. Fentanyl “was rare for a minute on the West Coast,” said Dr. Daniel Ciccarone, a physician and medical anthropologist at UC …

Boom in overdose-reversing drug is tied to fewer drug deaths
5 years, 5 months ago

Boom in overdose-reversing drug is tied to fewer drug deaths

Associated Press  

NEW YORK — Prescriptions of the overdose-reversing drug naloxone are soaring, and experts say that could be a reason overdose deaths have stopped rising for the first time in nearly three decades. The number of naloxone prescriptions dispensed by U.S. retail pharmacies doubled from 2017 to last year, rising from 271,000 to 557,000, health officials reported Tuesday. “One could only …

Surgeon General Warns About Opioid Overdose Epidemic, Urging Americans to Carry Naloxone
6 years, 9 months ago

Surgeon General Warns About Opioid Overdose Epidemic, Urging Americans to Carry Naloxone

CNN  

The US surgeon general has issued an advisory recommending that more Americans carry opioid overdose antidote naloxone. Naloxone can quickly reverse the effects of opioid overdose, slowing or stopping breathing. The drug is used by police officers, first responders, and emergency medical technicians to reverse opioid overdoses. The surgeon general emphasized that 'knowing how to use naloxone and keeping it …

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