DALLAS — Sharon Roland in Denton admits that she didn't know much about Narcan when her son Randy died of a heroin and fentanyl overdose in 2016.
But, she does now.
And, through her family's drug awareness non-profit, she's also one of its biggest advocates.
"Narcan would probably have saved his life, yes," Roland said. "I carry it in my car, I have it in my medicine chest, it's something that we feel that everyone should have, just like you'd have a fire extinguisher."
Her family's awareness organization, Reacting to Opioid Overdose (R.O.O.), was created to "unite and educate the community against the opioid epidemic" and advocates for the widespread availability and distribution of the overdose-reversing drug.
In most states you could already get Narcan, the generic for Naloxone, from a pharmacist. The approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) now makes it available over-the-counter to anyone.
The drug, administered through a nasal spray, can reverse the immediate effects of an overdose, even restoring breathing.
"Putting this in the hands of bystanders, family members, will be crucial in saving lives from overdose," said Matt Zavadsky, MS-HSA, NREMT, the chief transformation officer at the DFW-area ambulance service MedStar.
Zavadsky said MedStar has seen a steady increase in overdoses: 2,952 suspected overdose patients since January 2019. The Centers for Disease Control reports an increase in nationwide overdose deaths of as much as 17% a year.
"I've administered Narcan myself on hundreds of occasions," said Zavadsky. "And I've seen it work very, very effectively and know that it has virtually no downside risks. So the more people that are able to administer it for patients that are not breathing, the more lives we're going to save."
In Denton, Roland and her family are actually considering installing a Narcan vending machine. And she is campaigning to have the State of Texas make the life-saving drug available to anyone... for free.
"It's difficult to get it quickly," she said of her efforts to get large quantities of the life-saving drug. "I don't think there's enough of it out there."
But with this FDA approval, she hopes it will be more prevalent and available as the first line of defense for an epidemic that continues to grow.