Inspired by the recent spate of opiate drug overdoses in and around TC, a local woman has made it her mission to champion a drug that can stop overdoses before they kill. And local sheriff’s departments – and federal agencies – are listening.

“I saw headline after headline about people overdosing of opiates,” says Pam Lynch, a licensed substance abuse therapist in TC. “A 19-year-old dead of methadone overdose, a 17-year-old dead of heroin overdose, a 20-something year old overdoses in a home on Front Street. I knew what tool I had spent the last decade working with, and I knew its safety, its science and efficacy.”

That tool? Naloxone, a non-addictive, non-toxic drug used to counter the effects of an opiate overdose – i.e. heroin, morphine, prescription painkillers. Lynch, like many in her field, believes Nalaxone should be made available over-the-counter so that anyone can use it to combat a potentially fatal overdose.

This spring Lynch traveled to Maryland to testify on behalf of the drug at a hearing hosted by the Federal Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Institute on Drug Abuse. In recent weeks, she has met with Manistee and Benzie county sheriff’s deputies and probation officers to explain how the drug might help them reduce overdose-related fatalities. 

In Michigan, Naloxone – known also by trademarked names Narcan, Nalone and Narcanti – only can be administered by health care workers. However, it’s been made a part of emergency overdose response kits in several U.S. cities, saving an estimated 10,000 lives since 1996, according to the CDC.

“Parents, family members and friends of opiate addicted people who have died in Michigan are saddened to learn had their loved one lived in Baltimore, Boston, or Chicago, and any number of other places in this country, they might still be alive, had they or their friends had this life-saving drug with them,” Lynch says.

So why isn’t it available in Michigan? Lynch says it has to do with education. She believes much of the health care community isn’t aware of how safe the drug is, and how easily non-medical personnel can be taught to use it.

“Places where it has advanced are places where informed public health authorities are responding to the prescription drug crisis with science-based interventions, not interventions based on a poor understanding of addiction and fear," she says.

But Lynch is also careful to point out that Naloxone is not a cure for addiction. “It’s a stop-gap measure – but a critical one,” she says. “Research shows that when people overdose, oftentimes that is an opportunity for them to consider and enter drug treatment.”

Get Educated About Addiction
Two enlightening events about addiction are happening in TC in the coming weeks:

Next week, TC’s Addiction Treatment Services is screening Lost in Woonsocket, an award-winning documentary exploring the lives of two homeless men and their journey to overcome alcoholism and addiction. The event starts 7 p.m. on June 19 at the City Opera House. A dessert reception and brief discussion about addiction and homelessness in our community will follow. 

On July 17 The State Theatre will host a free opiate-addiction and overdose-prevention event, which will include films, speakers from Project Lazarus and The Temple University Law School of Public Health, Law and Policy.