The Surgeon General is recommending that family, friends and those who are personally at risk for an opioid overdose keep naloxone, an opioid reversal drug, on hand.
The advisory is part of the administration’s ongoing effort to respond to the sharp increase among drug overdose deaths and comes one month after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new data showing a rise in emergency department visits for opioid overdoses.
According to the Surgeon General, an estimated 2.1 million people in the United States struggle with an opioid use disorder with rapidly increasing rates of opioid overdose deaths. Since 2010, the number of opioid overdose deaths has doubled from more than 21,000 to more than 42,000 in 2016, with the sharpest increase occurring among deaths related to illicitly made fentanyl and fentanyl analogs.
“To manage opioid addiction and prevent future overdoses, increased naloxone availability must occur in conjunction with expanded access to evidence-based treatment for opioid use disorder,” the Surgeon General said.
The Surgeon General has released tools and established programs to address this issue including:
