LYNN — The city’s health department received approval from the Community Naloxone Purchasing Program last week to distribute Naloxone, an opioid overdose reversal drug, to the public in the form of a nasal spray.
Thanks to the approval, anyone who needs the drug, commonly referred to by its brand name, Narcan, can stop by City Hall and retrieve it, according to Lynn Health Department Opioid Prevention Specialist Candice McClory.
“I’m just really happy that we’re able to have another resource for Narcan in the area, just so we can make it available to as many people as possible,” McClory said in an interview at the city’s Lynnside Out festival Saturday.
Norris Guscott, the city’s public health coordinator, said he anticipates the program having a “massive” impact in Lynn.
“It doesn’t take a genius to know that something like a program where we’re able to directly dispense Narcan to the most vulnerable, that’s going to have an impact, so we’re really happy about that,” he said.
In an interview earlier this month, McClory said that there is a significant need for the overdose reversal drug, given the substantial amount of overdoses Lynn has seen this year.
“There is a huge need for Narcan in the community with all the overdoses that have occurred. Just this year, we’re somewhere nearing about 200 overdoses so far in Lynn that have been reported. We know that many go unreported every single day. So we want to make sure that they have access to Narcan for those who need it and want it in the community,” McClory said. “This is not meant just for medical professionals, but community members, family members of active users, active users themselves, people who work with active users, and then again, just any concerned community members.”
Although Naloxone is available in most Massachusetts pharmacies without the need for a prescription, Public Health Director Michelle Desmarais said in a previous interview that expanding Narcan distribution to City Hall would allow those who want the drug to obtain it more discreetly.
“It’s important for the community to know that there are people who will be private about their issues at home, and, if somebody could come to us and say, ‘I am concerned about my son or my daughter, or, you know, grandchild,’ whoever they are, everybody knows somebody, and at least they would feel like they could try to save them in some way,” Desmarais said. “People don’t even want to go to their own pharmacies to get it. So there’s a stigma and people don’t like it. So this would be just an opportunity for anyone to come into. It’s important that since COVID, at the height of the pandemic, all of us have realized that public health will never be the same, and we want to have more of a presence in the community so that the community sees us as a helpful site.”
Anthony Cammalleri can be reached at [email protected].
Charlie McKenna can be reached at [email protected].
