Narcan has been a prescription-only drug for years, but now it's being made available over the counter. "The FDA actually kept pushing and pushing and pushing the pharmaceutical companies to go ahead and apply," says Dr. Sanjay Gupta. States have worked out workarounds so that people can get Narcan in their pharmacies if they don't have a prescription.
The drug that brings people overdosing on opioids back from the brink of death in minutes just got approved for over-the-counter use. The Wall Street Journal’s Julie Wernau explains why she carries it with her everywhere she goes.
This episode was produced by Hady Mawajdeh, edited by Jolie Myers, fact-checked by Laura Bullard, engineered by Paul Robert Mounsey, and hosted by Sean Rameswaram.
Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained
Help keep this show and all of Vox's journalism free by making a gift to Vox today: bit.ly/givepodcasts
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices