SPOKANE, Wash. — August 10th was a nightmare for Rebecca Corbin.
“I was 100% convinced that I could go to go to a hospital or go to an emergency center and be able to get Narcan, I couldn't," Corbin said.
Corbin got a call at night that her daughter overdosed. She immediately went to search for Narcan but it took her almost two hours until she found a store that would sell it to her.
"Narcan wears off and if they don't have more Narcan to give them, they go right back into overdose. Wasn't prepared to lose her," Corbin said.
The powerful overdose-reversal drug, Narcan, will hit store shelves next week. The FDA approved it as an over-the-counter drug earlier this year.
Corbin hopes she never has to be in that situation again.
She said, “As a mother, it was a very emotional thing. And very hard to know that I couldn't get Narcan.”
Since the pandemic, drug overdoses and deaths have been on the rise in Spokane County. Between 2020 to 2021, the Washington Department of Health reported a near 200 percent increase in fentanyl-related overdoses.
“It could happen to anyone, it could happen anywhere," Dr. Francisco Velazquez, the health officer for the Spokane Regional Health Department said.
Velazquez hopes Narcan reduces the amount of overdoses we see here in Spokane County.
“I think it is important that we have access to Narcan more broadly. So anyone can have it as part of their toolkit, their first aid kit,” Velazquez said.
As for Corbin, she’ll be first in line for the overdose-reversal drug.
“I wish it had been more available, obviously, so I wouldn't have gone through what I went through that night," Corbin said. "But I'm just thankful that it's going to be available now.”
Corbin says she’ll also buy it for her entire family since she knows it can make the difference between life and death.
Narcan will be available as soon as September 5th at select Walgreen stores. By September 7th, it will be available nationwide at Rite Aid and CVS stores.
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