meanwhile Federal Regulators recently took a major step in fighting the leading cause of accidental death in the U.S overdoses driven largely by opioid use the FDA approved Nationwide over-the-counter sales of Narcan a medication that rapidly reverses the effects of opioid overdose the move supplements a program that already exists in New Jersey Melissa Rose Cooper looks at how well it's working and how the federal program could help save even more lives it's incredible news something that harm reductionists have been waiting for and fighting for for a very long time Jenna Miller applauding the fda's decision to make the opioid overdose reversal drug Narcan more accessible commonly it's considered to be the first line of defense in Saving Lives now the FDA is giving pharmacies the green light to sell the nasal spray over the counter Narcan is an incredibly safe incredibly and easy to use medicine but it only works when it's widely available so it should have never been a prescription medication in the first place and now the FDA is Right sizing that by making Narcan over the counter the fda's announcement follows New Jersey's own plan to fight the opioid crisis in January the Department of Human Services initiated a program to provide free naloxone anonymously to residents at pharmacies across the state they don't have to say their name we just have to confirm that they're 14 years are over and they're able to get a Narcan prescription with no questions as under Jane Doe Rx Pharmacy in Fords is one of hundreds of pharmacies participating in this day program owner Anil Don Juani says so far they saved about 30 lives New Jersey is ahead of the game and we do appreciate that because we do feel that there's a lot of overdoses as we see Middlesex counties one of the top 20 percent of overdoses in the state so we are concerned about that we know to this day there is still a significant amount of stigma surrounding what we call harm reduction efforts and we consider Narcan to be harm reduction meaning that it's not necessarily the Silver Bullet to stop someone from using opioids or to stop someone who has an addiction but it's literally there to save their life to give them an opportunity to have a second chance to be able to get the care that they need Catherine Coleman vice president of addiction recovery services for Care Plus New Jersey says having Narcan on hand is a necessity especially since some people who overdose may not even be aware opioids are in their system we have had individuals to whom may even be using marijuana and there might be fentanyl in the marijuana and they go into overdose and they may not even have an opiate based you know addiction or issue but now are needing that but with the cost of Narcan ranging from about 80 to 100 dollars there's concern that making the drug available without a prescription will still limit accessibility many people who need this life-saving medication are unable to afford it or require it because you know typically people with high level substance use don't have a lot of expendable money and maybe not even the wherewithal to go in and pick this up in the pharmacy so if it's inexpensive and easily accessible I think it will be a big net benefit now hopefully it doesn't change things like the free availability naloxone through Community organizations and other treatment programs for people who really are marginalized and can't afford it I think the over-the-counter availability will help many others who might have or know of people who have substance use disorder and they want to keep some with them just in case they have a witness an event harm reduction is say the fda's over-the-counter approval of the Narcan nasal spray is just the first step in Saving more lives they're hoping more versions of the drug will also be in included soon for NJ Spotlight news I'm Melissa Rose Cooper [Music]