While a lifesaving antidote is more widespread, the opioid epidemic remains just as dangerous.

Pam Marino here, just about five years after I began covering what back then was this little known drug called fentanyl. Now we know too much, including all the special people we’ve lost to the scourge, breaking the hearts of too many families and friends. But there is some hope and ways that we can make a difference in our families and community.

Prompted by Overdose Awareness Month—recognized each August and culminating with Overdose Awareness Day on Aug. 31—I chatted on Monday with Dr. Casey Grover of Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula, one-half of the dynamic duo with Dr. Reb Close, co-founders of Montage Health Prescribe Safe, and leaders of the nonprofit organization, Central Coast Overdose Prevention.

Grover had some hopeful news about distribution of the fentanyl overdose antidote naloxone, sold commercially as Narcan. Since CCOP and the Monterey Police Department installed free Narcan distribution boxes in three spots in Monterey, the idea is taking off around the county, with organizations like Sun Street Centers installing boxes and students advocating to add boxes on high school and college campuses.

If you encounter a Narcan distribution box, you’re welcome to take a box or two to keep in your car or in your home, for emergencies. (This map shows spots where you can ask for it.) Narcan is a nasal spray that’s very simple to use and can literally save someone’s life, or from a lifetime of disability. Even expired Narcan can be effective, Grover says.

“Overdoses on opioids are very time-sensitive,” Grover says. “So let’s say I’m using fentanyl and I start to overdose. There’s five minutes before I start to get brain damage and eight minutes before my heart stops.

“So if we flooded the community with naloxone/Narcan, we might have somebody get a dose faster,” he says. “And when you talk to the families who have lost their children to overdose death or fentanyl poisoning, a lot of what they wish they had known was how to respond faster, or if they didn’t have naloxone, they wish they had had it.”

There’s also a way parents can make a difference in preventing tragedy, by having ongoing conversations with kids about fentanyl. Grover says the best time to begin is when kids are entering sixth grade, and a good way to approach the topic is by asking a question that doesn’t make a child defensive:

“‘Hey, I read this great Weekly article about fentanyl. Have you heard of fentanyl?’” 

And then just listen to what your child has to say. If the first attempt at a conversation doesn’t work, try again another time. 

Grover also suggests making it an annual family project to make sure they have Narcan on hand and that everyone knows how to use it, similar to checking your smoke detector batteries to keep the home safe, or making a family evacuation plan in an emergency.

“And you can deflect blame: ‘We want to be there for others in the community,’” he suggests as a way to frame the exercise.

That’s the hopeful news. The sobering news is that the opioid epidemic is not going away anytime soon. There are new, more powerful and deadly variations of fentanyl on the street locally, or expected to come here in the near future. 

That makes it all the more important to prepare and prevent so we have no more tragic stories of lost loved ones. What will you do to prepare?

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