Narcan saves lives and is available to families without a prescription.

Clinical Outcomes Group of Pottsville and the Schuylkill County Drug & Alcohol Program sponsored a two-hour session Thursday at the Hometown Fire Company.About two dozen people were trained to administer Narcan.Dr. John W. Stefovic of Ashland, medical director for Clinical Outcomes Group, and Ricky A. Ney Jr., an emergency medical technician who is educator/instructor for Schuylkill United Health Services, conducted the training.Stefovic said poisoning and drug overdoses have surpassed auto accidents in death rates in the United States.Stefovic said 44 people die daily in the United States from opioid overdose.He urged that parents or family members in homes of suspected drug abusers keep it available.He said if an opioid overdose occurs, there is no harm in administering Narcan nasally."You can't harm someone by giving it to them," he said, even if the problem is a sugar drop from diabetes or a stroke rather than an overdose.The speaker noted that the cost of Narcan has increased since it has become so widely used.At one time, Narcan cost only about $15, he said. However, as demand for it increased, so did the cost. A dose now costs more than $50."The majority of overdoses occur in the presence of others," he said. "Overdoses can be reversed by rescue breathing and/or Narcan administration."Many younger drug users are still living at home or are still allowed to visit the home, Stefovic said, which is why it is important for family members to have Narcan available.Examples of opioids include heroin, morphine, Tramadol, oxycodone and methadone.Overdoses are rarely instantaneous, he said. They usually happen one to three hours after the drug was used."Someone 'found dead with a needle in their arm' is a rare event that is sensationalized," he said.He said Narcan is a pure opiate antagonist. "It has no physiological effect other than blocking opiates," he said.Ney said, "Naloxone's duration of action is relatively brief - as short as 30 minutes. The duration of action for narcotics can be very long - as long as a day. All patients who receive Naloxone must be monitored closely for recurrent symptoms."Ney said sometimes patients may need a second dose of the Narcan.One of the problems Ney and other emergency responders face when responding to an overdose is what to do with the patient. He said taking them to a hospital isn't always the answer because they come out of the overdose.The addictionStefovic also spoke on understanding addiction."Addiction is a brain disease and is treatable," Stefovic said.He said in the 1960s, addicts usually only got high through injections. Today, drug users take the drugs many different ways, such as snorting or even in capsule form."Denying treatment is like denying a diabetic insulin or denying a cancer patient their drugs," he said.He explained that people who smoke and develop cancer aren't denied cancer drugs. People who become addicted shouldn't be denied treatment."We're losing so many people we don't have to lose," he said.The growing use of drugs, he said, "is a tidal wave that's coming over top of us and we have to look at it differently or we're going to be lost."Detoxication isn't the answer.Stefovic said a user who goes into detox has a 95 percent chance of going back to opioids, but someone who also goes into rehab has a 10 percent chance of returning to the drugs.He said there won't be headway made on the war against drugs "until you actually start treating this like a disease."The program will be repeated at 5:30 p.m. on July 6 at the Schuylkill County Probations new day reporting center, 1 S. Second St., Pottsville.It is open to the public, but anyone attending should contact clinical Outcomes Group at 1-800-264-1290.