Narcan: A controversial life-saver

LACONIA — There’s a lot Matt Andrews doesn’t remember about the time he was given Narcan to reverse the effects of a fentanyl overdose.

But he knows one thing.

“It saved my life," Andrews said. 

“It has saved numerous people that I know. Sadly, the ones that don’t make it through an overdose, it’s because of the people they are surrounded with, or they may be alone when they get high and they don’t get Narcanned in time.”

Andrews overdosed at a friend’s house in Laconia on Jan. 16, 2017.

“A lot of people ran, but two of my buddies were still there when I came to,” he said. “They called 911 and gave me CPR.”

At one point his heart stopped.

Five doses

Firefighters ended up giving him five doses of Narcan.

“I remember coming to, lying on the kitchen floor,” he said. “I felt like crap. Didn’t have much recollection of what was going on. I was concerned they were going to call my mother. I was scared it would destroy my family.”

His brother died of an overdose, and he was worried about scaring his loved ones.

Andrews wound up in a hospital intensive care unit for five days after the overdose.

Months later he found himself in jail and he finally committed to a recovery program.

Andrews, 30, has now been clean and sober for about a year and holds down a job at an electric motors shop.

Drug critics

Some people complain that the effectiveness of Narcan serves to enable drug users. The writer of local letter to the editor suggested that people be limited to one dose of Narcan and “if they fall off the wagon, we move on.”

A councilman in Middletown, Ohio, suggested a “three-strikes penalty” so that paramedics would not respond to an overdose victim who has required two previous interventions.

Others contend drug users may take higher doses of drugs knowing that their friends will give them Narcan if they overdose.

Andrews said his experience is that addicts don’t really think that far ahead, or pay much heed to the consequences of their actions. They want to get high, not reverse that high.

“Fear never really crossed my mind,” he said. “I was just trying to get my fix.”

He favors widespread availability of Narcan.

“Without it, I would be in an urn sitting next to my brother in my mother’s living room.”

Drug counselor

Horizons Counseling Center Executive Director Jacqui Abikoff has spoken to hundreds of people suffering from drug dependency.

“But I never met an addict who said, ‘I stopped because I was afraid i would die.’

“Instead they say, ‘I know how to use it safely. I trust my dealer. It will never happen to me.’

“And then when an overdose does happen, they say it was a fluke.”

Lives saved

Statewide, about 100 people a month are having their lives saved through administration of Narcan, according to the New Hampshire Drug Monitoring Initiative.

In Laconia this year, Narcan was administered 43 times through September, but Abikoff notes this figure doesn’t reflect the many times it is likely being given by family and friends. It can be purchased without a prescription and administered with a simple nasal spray.

Abikoff said it makes sense for people to have Narcan handy, especially when people they know have a substance use disorder.

“People do things that are dangerous,” she said. “We put bicycle helmets on our children when they ride, not because we encourage them to fall but because we want to make sure they don’t die if they do.”

Brian Keyes, a Laconia firefighter/paramedic and recovery coordinator, said people may never have to give Narcan to someone, but it is good to be prepared.

“We look at Narcan as being analogous to a fire extinguisher,” he said. “We have five overdoses for every building fire.”

Rep. Phil Spagnuolo, a drug counselor, said more funding is necessary to provide wider distribution of Narcan. Kits of the drug, also called Naloxone, cost about $40.

“The big push is to have it in purses, pockets, backpacks,” he said. “If you give it to someone who is not overdosing, there’s no negative effect.”

A pharmaceutical company that makes the drug has agreed to provide kits to U.S. high schools.

Laconia School Superintendent Brendan Minnihan said the local high school has not received any.

“When we last discussed the issue with the Laconia Police Department, probably a year or so ago, their view was emergency responders are trained and equipped to handle the use of Narcan in the event of an overdose,” he said. “The belief is that the emergency responders are in close enough proximity that they would be able to arrive in a timely manner. As such, we have not pursued the storage and potential use of Narcan within the school district.”