After a community is affected by an opioid overdose, an expanded program from Georgia’s Department of Public Health will send recovery and harm reduction advocates door-knocking in the neighborhood nearby.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved selling overdose antidote naloxone over-the-counter, marking the first time a opioid treatment drug will be available without a prescription. Wednesday's approval is for Narcan, a name-brand version of naloxone sold by Emergent BioSolutions.
Narcan is the life-saving medication that can prevent death after an opioid overdose. Those deaths climbed 36% in Georgia during the first year of the pandemic, with rural communities hit harder than more urban areas.
The city's per capita overdose death rate is among the highest in the U.S. To help address the crisis, city officials launched Street Overdose Response Teams, part of a broader public health effort.
