Legacy Drugstore is embarking on a campaign to put an anti-opioid drug into the hands of as many people as possible.Narcan, also called naloxone, is a drug that reverses the effects of an opioid overdose. It has become widely distributed in the form of an easy-to-use nasal spray.“It literally brings people back from the point of death. ... It completely reverses the (opioid) and it brings them back,” said Legacy manager and pharmacist Mitch Graumenz.Legacy, with locations in Wright City and Warrenton, began offering Narcan without a prescription about a month ago, Graumenz said.Many pharmacies have been making similar changes. Walgreens announced in October 2017 that it would stock Narcan in all of its locations nationwide, also with no prescription required.Legacy hopes to inform customers that even legally distributed opioid drugs, such as pain medications, come with a risk of accidental overdose.Graumenz compared Narcan to a piece of safety equipment. Something to keep around for emergencies, even though you hope to never need it — like a fire extinguisher.“By definition, an overdose is an accident. No one ever plans to overdose,” he said. “That’s something I brought up to a few patients. Keep it on hand in case your spouse or a loved one or someone you know accidentally overdoses.”Overdoses can happen even in patients who have safely been taking an opioid drug for a long time, for a variety of reasons, Graumenz explained.What is it?Narcan works by blocking the part of the brain targeted by opioids. During an overdose, opioids can cause a person’s breathing to slow or stop, which is what makes them fatal. Narcan effectively reverses that condition, and is otherwise harmless to those without an allergy, Graumenz said.Legacy sells the drug in boxes that contain two nasal spray doses. It can be paid for through a customer’s insurance, and otherwise costs about $125.The doses are made to be easy for anyone to use. Pharmacists instruct customers on how to identify the symptoms of an overdose.“Just come in and talk to a pharmacist and you can walk out with one,” Graumenz said. “We don’t have to keep record of your name, we don’t have to make a big deal about it. If you’re worried that you may need one, or you just want to keep one in your car, we can do that.”Legacy will also be running an informational campaign to reduce the stigma around carrying Narcan. The pharmacy wants to make people aware of the prevalence of opioids, both legal and illegal, and that Narcan is an effective tool to prevent death from an overdose.Graumenz said the campaign was inspired in part by hearing from first responders about how often they’re administering Narcan.Information collected by The Record in December showed EMS staff and firefighters were using the drug to treat overdose patients roughly once every three days on average in 2017.SkepticismWarren County Ambulance District Administrator Ralph Hellebusch expressed reservations about the recent trend of making Narcan broadly available.“As with most medicines, people need to understand there are some side effects,” Hellebusch explained. In this case, he said if you administer too much Narcan at once, the patient can become violent when they awaken.Hellebusch also expressed concern that Narcan might be used as a safety net to abuse drugs. It’s a situation that creates mixed feelings, because Narcan is a lifesaving treatment, but it doesn’t cure addiction or solve the problem of drug abuse.Although paramedics do respond to accident situations where children have gotten into an adult’s pain medication, Hellebusch said most of the ambulance district’s overdose calls are for “street drugs.”He is afraid easy access to Narcan might further enable that drug abuse.“I don’t want to create a situation where it’s OK for people to use (illegal drugs),” Hellebusch said.

Pharmacist Mitch Graumenz with Legacy Drugstore displays a package of Narcan, a drug that reverses the effects of an opioid overdose. The drug is available without prescription at local pharmacies and is easy to use in an emergency. 

Record photo/Adam Rollins