Drug that reverses effects of opioid overdose now available over-the-counter in NM

Opioid users in New Mexico are now able to take their pain medications more safely, thanks to a newly-implemented bill.

“Opioid overdose deaths are at an all-time high, it’s an epidemic,” State Rep. Terry McMillan, (R) District 37, said Tuesday. McMillan is also a doctor.

House Bill 277, effective July 1, allows for wide, over-the-counter distribution of opioid antidotes to prevent overdose deaths. This includes Naloxone, also known as Narcan, a potentially life-saving drug administered through injection or nasal spray.

McMillan sponsored the bill and strongly urges opioid users, or their caregivers, to get the drug at their local Walgreens and CVS drugstores.

“It’s easily-administered and it will reverse the effects of an overdose very quickly,” McMillan said.

McMillan says Naloxone has “hardly any” side effects and requires only a $90-$100 co-pay under a wide array of insurance providers.

Opioid medications, including morphine and codeine, are used to control pain, but can cause users to stop breathing — and even die — if taken improperly.

New Mexico has the second-highest drug overdose-related death rate in the country in 2014, according to McMillan. He and other officials hope the new legislation will reverse that trend.

“If this is distributed widely enough, we’re going to save a number of lives in New Mexico”, McMillan said, “more than you’d imagine.”