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Nebraska in general seems to be socially a very good state. It has a very low suicide rate, lowest illicit drug death rate and also scores well in having a relatively low percentage of the population in poor mental health.
It seems that overall that the highest rate of drug overdose deaths are in the north-east and eastern great lakes region and also New Mexico and Utah.
There was an article on CNN.com about a week ago, they did an in depth report on the opioid problem in Huntington, WV. Pretty depressing read. More than half of all police calls require Narcan, even the mayor carries Narcan just in case.
I graduated in a high school class of close to 300 back in 2004. I went through the annuals a few months ago. We have lost just under 10% of the class where drugs/alcohol were a certain or thought to be contributing factor in the death.
Not all of these were clear overdoses. One of my best friends committed suicide three years ago, and we were drinking the day before he died. He might have been sober at the time, but he had issues with substance abuse. I lumped him in and some auto-accidents of known abusers into the druggie category.
Baltimore alone probably bumps MD to 20.9 rate, without it, i'd bet it would be closer to 10.
I did math and the rate in the rest of the state outside of Baltimore is 15.2. Folks always think that all problems in Maryland exist only in Baltimore.
I heard that many drug stores like CVS are making Narcan/Naloxone available OTC. Some
People are against this idea but I'm 10000% for it! I don't think it's a cure for this problem, but it's a step.
For those that may not know, Narcan (Aka Naloxone) is an antidote for opiod overdose. It's an opiod antagonist with a higher affinity. So you can actually reverse an opiod overdose! It's really cool. But they often come back very angry and attack you for "ruining their high".
BUT Naloxone has a short half-life, so it can wear off and send the patient back into an overdose, so sometimes you'll have to give additional doses.
Anyway, I hope this becomes a more mainstream/household name. I don't think there are many states that let people buy or carry this. I carry it because I'm EMS though
I heard that many drug stores like CVS are making Narcan/Naloxone available OTC. Some
People are against this idea but I'm 10000% for it! I don't think it's a cure for this problem, but it's a step.
For those that may not know, Narcan (Aka Naloxone) is an antidote for opiod overdose. It's an opiod antagonist with a higher affinity. So you can actually reverse an opiod overdose! It's really cool. But they often come back very angry and attack you for "ruining their high".
BUT Naloxone has a short half-life, so it can wear off and send the patient back into an overdose, so sometimes you'll have to give additional doses.
Anyway, I hope this becomes a more mainstream/household name. I don't think there are many states that let people buy or carry this. I carry it because I'm EMS though
Diane Rehm had a show earlier this week about the opioid epidemic and one of her panelists, in particular, was an advocate of making Narcan OTC. One of the other panelists was the Health Commissioner in Baltimore. It was an interesting discussion.
Diane Rehm had a show earlier this week about the opioid epidemic and one of her panelists, in particular, was an advocate of making Narcan OTC. One of the other panelists was the Health Commissioner in Baltimore. It was an interesting discussion.
I'm interested in hearing how that turns out for Baltimore. I think making Narcan widely available is a huge step in the right direction. It's really easy to administer too, anyone can do it. And it's a crazy feeling to immediately be able to reverse an overdose like that. Medicine is so cool. Unfortunately they never seem to be thankful for you saving their life though, every time I've seen or done it. I even had a guy try to attack me one time. He was like "You know how much I paid for that!?"
It's crazy how addictions can really take over peoples lives to the point where they don't give a **** that you just saved their life, the only thing they care about is the fact that you ruined their high.
Anyway, yeah, if you use Narcan on someone back away!!
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