Narcan

Advisers to the FDA put the opioid overdose-reversal drug a step closer to being sold without a needing a prescription. Even if approved, the medication may not reach many people who need it.

The nasal spray version of naloxone is already available without a prescription in all states. But switching it to over-the-counter status would allow it to be sold in vending machines, supermarkets and other locations.

Emergent BioSolutions has applied to the FDA to sell the opioid overdose-reversal drug over the counter. Addiction experts say it may be a key step to lower fentanyl deaths.

The Tallahassee-area drug treatment program received 800 doses of Kloxxado, an 8-milligram internasal naloxone that is similar to Narcan but double the dose.

The plan is for health departments in all 67 counties to have kits with two Narcan nasal sprays that can be administered without a health care provider.

Families in Palm Beach County hoped protesting would convince Sheriff Ric Bradshaw to equip deputies with Narcan, which is used to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.

Know-how gained through the pandemic is seeping into other public health areas. But in a nation that has chronically underfunded its public health system, it’s hard to know which changes will stick.

Community activists blitzed beaches and warned spring breakers of a surge in recreational drugs cut with the dangerous synthetic opioid.

A new wave of opioid deaths, fueled by fentanyl, is raising old fears in Palm Beach County. Meantime, sheriff's office policy on naloxone is an outlier in the state.

Opioid overdoses have been a major problem in Florida for years. The synthetic opioid fentanyl is even more dangerous. Health workers are trying to distribute overdose kits as widely as they can.