Dec 12, 2016 By J. Tyler Garlick 4 min read

Having studied the local drug epidemic for the last year and a half as an undergraduate college student, I have certainly heard plenty about the rising prevalence of the opioid-blocking agent naloxone, commonly referred to as Narcan.

I have heard plenty of support for naloxone use, often citing the simple, yet powerful, argument that naloxone saves lives. I have also heard plenty of criticism about naloxone, claiming it enables those who abuse opioids — that those no good, dirty rotten drug addicts should just be left to die. Yet, each of these arguments is inherently short-sighted.

I have never experienced an addiction to any opioid, and I will not pretend that I have. Yet, is probably safe to assume that the mere prevalence of naloxone does enable those who abuse opioids to push the limits, at least a bit. In fact, I have heard from plenty of first responders who recalled administering naloxone to the same people on multiple occasions.

Yet, the rebuttal I almost always provide to someone who gives the typical let ’em die argument is something like, “what if it was your son?” or “what if it was your daughter?” or “what if it was your grandparent?” This typically stops the average person in his or her tracks, because the local scourge of opioid abuse does not just exist among the downtrodden community youth whom, unfortunately, many people may not miss anyways.

Opioid abuse exists among the son or daughter of the hardworking, honest, middle- to upper-class parent, the parent him or herself, and, contrary to what most people seem to recognize, the grandmother suffering from chronic pain who may simply take an extra pain pill or two so she can experience a decent night’s sleep, only to never wake up.

Regardless of one’s position about naloxone, we, as a community, should face the facts and look forward: Naloxone saves lives, but it is like a small Band-Aid that we slapped onto a gaping wound. It is imperative that we look at how deal the problem after somebody is saved by naloxone. Fatal drug overdoses in Fayette County, much of which were caused by opioid abuse, have been on the rise since at least 2012. A more concerning aspect of such a trend, however, is that naloxone availability and use has also appeared to be on the rise over the last few years.

The problem with naloxone is it could hiding the real magnitude of the opioid epidemic.

The lack of discussion and publicized information about trends of naloxone sales and use is alarming. For instance, if we are experiencing increasingly high numbers of fatal opioid overdoses alongside the same trend of naloxone applications, then the opioid epidemic is much, much more serious than many of us realize. Even if our community’s rising numbers of fatal opioid overdoses is being matched with just steady levels of naloxone applications, the opioid epidemic is still much greater than most of us probably realize. In other words, if we see the tip of an iceberg, we can avoid it, but if we do not recognize its massiveness beneath the water, we will still crash into it.

We should be studying every perceivable aspect of the growing opioid scourge in our community, because it is important that we know exactly what we are up against in order to enact the most effective solutions (which are best left for another article). We know the problem exists; now, we need to continually examine it and enact realistic solutions. Our next step should be to understand the depth of the opioid epidemic by analyzing not only fatal overdoses, but rates of naloxone applications, too.

A resident of Point Marion, Garlick is a senior in the administration of justice program at Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus.