Naloxone, an opioid drug overdose antidote, has been sold without prescription at CVS pharmacies in Tennessee for some time. Walgreens will be joining them this year, offering Naloxone in 35 states. According to Walgreens spokesman Phil Caruso, it is a move to try and decrease the number of deaths due to heroin overdose. Kroger in Ohio and northern Kentucky will also be offering the lifesaving medication within days.
Caruso said that it will still be necessary to speak to the pharmacist and be trained on how to safely use the drug, which is administered by either nasal spray or injection.
Kroger’s spokesperson said that the Tennessee legislature is working with the state’s Pharmacy Association on a statewide protocol for selling Naloxone without prescription in the state. Micah Cost, Tennessee Pharmacy Association executive director, said the association supports making the drug overdose antidote easier to buy.
The Tennessee Department of Health reports that the number of heroin-related deaths rose from 18 to 147 between 2009 and 2014. The 2014 National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that approximately 6.5 million Americans misused prescription drugs in 2014. Also in 2014, the CDC reported 47,055 drug overdose deaths, which included both prescription and illicit drugs, a 6.5 percent increase from 2013.
Once the Walgreens program becomes effective, naloxone will be available without prescription in more than 5,800 of their 8,200 stores.