Kentucky is taking a new step to stop the recent increase of opioid overdose deaths.
A new website allows a person to enter a city or ZIP code and quickly find a pharmacy that has the life-saving drug naloxone, often sold under the name Narcan, that can reverse the effects of an opiod overdose.
The website www.KyStopOverdoses.ky.govwas launched on Nov. 2.
Van Ingram is executive director of the Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy. He says the website is something requested by many families in the state.
“I’ve heard from a number of parents of a young person with an opioid use disorder and heard their frustrations in not being able to find it, and going around from drugstore to drugstore and places not carrying it.”
Families desperate to get help for loved ones with an opioid addiction now have a new way to buy time while hoping for a recovery.
"We needed to provide people a resource where they can quickly and easily find where naloxone is available in their communities,” said Ingram.
He says many family members are now more comfortable administering naloxone to loved ones because it’s available as a nasal spray. It was previously given through a needle to those who had overdosed.
Nearly 1,300 people in Kentucky died from drug overdoses last year, with the majority of those deaths involving opioids.
